THE TIDE TURNS

[Music] Jim 1942 New York cover men at the eighth Air Force 10,000 strong prepared to board a single converted luxury liner for England just as their fathers did a generation before in the AEF Aero squadrons this time the 97th Bomb Group ground crews two fighter groups and their service units were embarking for England on her maiden troop ship run across the Atlantic the Queen Elizabeth carried the vanguard of American airpower for the new fight against aggression in England at high wycombe we used a girls boarding school as headquarters here 30 miles from Piccadilly began the build-up which eventually made the 8th Air Force larger than the entire US Army had been only three years before as the summer of 1942 rushed by the work of generals Duncan Akers Scots and the rest of us made the idea a reality we learned about the air war from the RAF reaching a degree of cooperation never before equalled by the military forces of two great nations however for smashing target Germany there was disagreement on tactics the AAF came over for daylight precision bombing although the British now practiced night area bombing having suffered unbearably heavy losses in daylight operations accordingly the British Bomber Command picked their targets train their crews fed them lots of carrots and designed their planes for deadly night attacks [Music] the success of the Wellington's and Lancaster's in attacks against Cologne in the Ruhr during the summer nights of 1942 offered grim evidence of what such tactics could accomplish [Music] please freemen were dedicating their lives to attempt the destruction of the economic fabric of an enemy nation and way of life our first test in tactics came August 17th it was a critical day for the 8th Bomber Command when we loaded up for the first US raid from England in u.s. planes in daylight general IRA Eaker had told us that the target was the great marshalling yard near Rouen in nazi-occupied France there were still plenty of skeptics who predicted dismal results from the first attempt at a daylight mission general spots in Acre had to prove them wrong our morale had worn pretty thin from repeated dry runs in public and patience for American action in the European theater each guy acted nonchalant but we were fully aware of the long-range strategic planning that hinged on this particular mission maybe we didn't know any better but we had plenty of confidence confidence in our weapons confidence in our buddies in a way they did their job we didn't think of ourselves as heroes just hot rocks but heroes are not the flying private sergeants and Generals were putting their lives on the line knowing full well what the odds were [Music] at the controls of one of the lead ships was the old man himself generally playing a b-17 which someone aptly named Yankee as the Bombers pulled up their gear American Flyers in 12 American machines assembled over the British countryside ready to test an American idea in France high-altitude precision bombing as England disappeared behind us we took up battle stations our bomb buddies and Gunners knew that the fate of the mission and the lives of the crew depended on them we took turns Manning the guns expecting our position one of the crew pointed out the city of Rouen where Joan of Arc had died for the liberation of French now airplanes named babydoll Peggy Dee and Yankee Doodle were spoiling the fight for the same thing German warning centers caught by surprise didn't report the fortresses until they were well on their way to the target we made a direct run for a point about three miles north of Rouen and then a slight turn to the right for the bombing approached all of us flying this first u.s. bomber raid wondered why the sky was clear of enemy fighters and black visibility was excellent something you don't get for night bombing all 12 planes dropped a total of 37 thousand pounds of bombs [Music] then we met black they like give the Jerry's better targets they pumped anti-aircraft shells smacked up to our outlet [Music] two of our planes collected slack then 40 German made [Music] these were Noto targets these babies brought back end when we finally shook off the enemy attack I took a reading our group was intact a mission was far more successful than many of us had dared hope even British Bomber Command Air Chief Marshal Harris sent general acre enthusiastic congratulations Yankee Doodle he said certainly went to town and can stick another well these old feather in his cap one month later halfway around the world events in New Guinea took charge of plans the Japanese drive toward Port Moresby one of the few bases we still held north of Australia threatened to push the Allies into the sea to stop the enemy General MacArthur quickly reset the stage for an allied offensive they relied on General George Kenny new commander of Allied air who is reorganizing the fifth Air Force with fresh spirit and ideas the urgency of the situation led him to a daring experiment in air tactics moving an army by air had worked in the Carolina maneuvers why not in New Guinea MacArthur had ordered troops rushed into battle one regiment took 36 hours to go by water a battalion took five weeks by foot but sixty planes carried an entire Australian infantry battalion in one day in a little more than an hour fresh and rested troops arrived in combat zones ready for immediate duty in the proponent campaign with the troops came equipment by mid-november 10,000 American and Australian troops have been carried over the mountains to support the men Air Transport broken supplies at the rate of 2 million pounds a week they eventually brought in enough men rations ammunition artillery and equipment to feed and protect themselves do battle with the enemy and build airfields specially designed airborne equipment such as pint-sized bulldozers and graters helped us lay off 6 air strips in the kunai flat without native labor paid at local union rates the work of building grass strips could never have been accomplished alone a fedora they scraped out runway is less than 16 miles from the front construction completed fighter units move in fast to protect the operation and for the southwest Pacific Air Forces directed by veteran air leader George Kenny and fighter commander NS Whitehead had forged a tactical weapon which helps stem the tide of Japanese aggression in the proponent campaign the one airplane we fighter pilots in New Guinea wanted was the p38 we had begged Washington despair as a few of these high-flying speedy lightnings when we finally got him the ground crews at a big job on their end fuel tank superchargers armament all required major adjustment or repairs enemy mechanics on neighboring fields had fewer planes than the Allies but numbers in the South Pacific didn't tell everything back in October General Kenny had warned the Pentagon the [ __ ] is two days from the factory to the combat zone and he made swarm all over me on December 27 the [ __ ] tribe about 11:30 hours they gave us the alert what Morse Pete had received the word that our radio station at dhaba dura had picked up a plot of enemy aircraft approaching the buna area we pilots had waited a long time for this moment and with the help of our crew chief we got going in a hurry it had taken more than three months to get the p38 ready for combat our maintenance boys had worked hard and now we were about to put the Lightning's to the test as part of the 39th Fighter Squadron we had flown some patrol and escort missions however this was to be our first important combat operation well brand-new p-38s were being dispatched to intercept an invading force of unknown strength both sides were in for a surprise and 12:10 hours we cited the Jets they were out in force separating into three flights of for each we got on top at 10,000 feet the zeroes didn't appreciate the view a lead-pipe peeled off the dive in and break up the formation [Music] for this throttle wide open this p38 jockey latched on to a jet [Music] then the first lightning struck one of the eager beavers the knack in that day with a moon face lieutenant by the name of Richard fog [Music] this was the first of bronze 40 victories captain Thomas Lynch was also there and that was a good thing because the enemy forts included more than twenty eight zeros and father [Music] Tommy Lynch got two more that day making him the 39th squadrons first base [Music] when the score was finally added up our 12 lightnings had shot down 11 enemy fighters and bombers thus the p38 made a dramatic debut in the southwest Pacific but tide was turning but one battle didn't win a war there were still brutal weeks and months and years of war ahead later chapters will show that the enemy had not yet seen self nor imagined the awful night of the air power to be unleashed by the United States Air Force [Music]