• U.S.

AIR: Fighters Up

3 minute read
TIME

Out from England again last week laced the multiple vapor trails of Eighth Air Force bombers and fighters bound “for Germany. For the Thunderbolts and Lightnings, it was their longest mission yet (over 400 miles out) and a new high in U.S. fighter-bomber relations.

When the first Spits and Thunderbolts started their escort work last spring, trigger-itchy gunners of Forts and Liberators warned them that it was hard to distinguish between friend & foe in an air battle. Some friendly fighters were shot down before fighters learned never to point their noses at bombers, as attacking Nazis do. Some bomber men had to be taught better recognition and understanding of fighter tactics.

Change by Range. But soon Major General William Kepner’s Eighth Fighter Command radically changed bomber operations along the Britain-to-Germany airways. His seasoned combat pilots have made clannish bomber men welcome their fighter escorts. One of the best of the bomber’s new friends is a silent, rosy-cheeked Group Commander, Colonel William J. (“Wild Bill”) Cummings Jr., who was on Clark Field when the Japs attacked the Philippines, made his way to the Eighth by way of Corregidor, Java and Australia. In some five months, Cummings has led Thunderbolts over Bremen, Cologne, Emden and the Ruhr.

On a typical escort mission Cummings’ crew chiefs readied their Thunderbolts before dawn. Then the muddy-floored briefing room filled with leather-jacketed pilots. They listened to Wild Bill’s parting advice on the flight plan and tactics, took off. The crew chiefs gathered around the loudspeaker to “sweat out” their pilots and planes.

Soon after the fighters made their rendezvous with the bombers, the first German fighters appeared. Five minutes later the first German plane was down. The battle was brief: Cummings’ group destroyed four Germans, with two probables and two damaged. No bombers were shot down.

Bombers’ Pets. The bomber men have other favorites in the Eighth Fighter Command: Captain Walker Mahurin, 25, has the highest U.S. score in the theater: 13 kills. Twice he downed three Nazis in a day; twice he hit a daily double in his Thunderbolt. Captain Joe Meyer alone fought off a dozen Germans, safely shepherded home two crippled F-38s and a wounded Fortress. Lieut. Colonel Eugene Roberts believes in tight formations. His group’s score: 36 Germans destroyed, seven U.S. planes lost.

Before U.S. long-range fighters got to the European theater, R.A.F. Spitfiremen did most of the escort work, and handily, but their range was limited. The Forts and Liberators got help only at the start and end of missions.

The Thunderbolts and Lightnings changed that—for most missions, bombers now have pursuit escort all the way.

As the Germans moved their fighter defenses farther and farther inland, the long-range fighters began to look pretty good to the bomber pilots.

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