HALPRO

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M

MIflyer

Captain
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May 30, 2011
Cape Canaveral
The book Turning the Tide describes a bit on the Halverson Provisional Detachment (HALPRO). It originally was a Doolittle raid type of mission that would involve B-24's attacking Japan from China, led by Colonel Henry Halverson. They would journey across the South Atlantic, across Africa and on to India and China. They were in Sudan when the Doolittle Raid occurred, which canceled their mission.

The 24 B-24's represented a long range bomber force that exceeded the capabilities on anything the RAF had in the Middle east and they were sent to Palestine. On 13 Jun 1942 13 B-24's attacked Ploesti. Clouds prevented them from doing significant harm to the Ploesti oil fields. Five were shot down and others had to make emergency landings. Only four made it back to their destination base, although some of the others were repaired and sent on later.

On 16 June 7 of the B-24's attacked the Italian Fleet, which was attempting to intercept a RN convoy but did little damage. The B-24's were then used on night missions to attack the port facilities at Tobruk and Benghazi so to disrupt the supply lines for the Africa Corps, which met with significant success. Rommel blamed his failure to take El Alamein on inadequate supplies.

In July the HALPRO firce was joined by the 9 surviving B-17 that escaped the PI and formed the 1st Provisional Bomb Group. The B-17's and B-24's flew frequent missions to attack Axis shipping as well as the supply ports.

I had no idea that we tried to send B-24's to China in early 1942 or that the B-17's from the PI ended up in the ME.

I did not realie we
 
special ed said:
It was envisioned the B-24s would be part of the AVG remainder, had there been B-24 survivors.
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Same thing for the B-25's from the Doolittle Mission.

On 23 July 1942 the 48 B-24's of the USAAF 98th Bomb Group arrived in Egypt. Note this all was months before Operation Torch. I have to admit I did not think of US Forces being in Africa until after Torch, but it is obvious they were tipping the scales in the Med theater well before then.
 
Regarding HALPRO's Ploesti raid on 12/13 June 1942, not all of HALPRO's aircraft had by then reached Egypt. Of the 13 aircraft dispatched from Fayid in Egypt only 12 bombed Ploesti, the remaining aircraft bombed the port of Constanza in Romania.

As noted, it was intended that the aircraft would recover to a base in Iraq. Only 4 reached the planned destination. Another 3 landed at other bases in Iraq, while 2 landed at a base in Syria. The remaining 4 aircraft landed near Ankara in Turkey. They were

Brooklyn Rambler 41-11596
Blue Goose 41-11597
Little Eva 41-11609
Edna Elizabeth 41-11622

By some means Brooklyn Rambler attempted a flight to freedom and reached Cyprus where it suffered nose damage. This must have caused a bit of a diplomatic incident, because while the crew were allowed to return to the USAAF, the aircraft had to be repaired and returned to the Turks. A Turkish aircrew flew it to the Gura Air Depot in Eritrea run by Douglas, where 8,156.5 manhours were spent repairing it at a cost of $16,182.50 plus parts.
"Liberator. America's Global Bomber" by Alwyn T Lloyd.

On 28th June 1942 Maj Gen Lewis Brereton brought the Brereton Detachment from India. This comprised 9 B-17E, being the remnants of 9th BS, 7th BG, 10th AF from India (the rest of that Group was then in the process of re-equipping with LB-30 & B-24D Liberator aircraft in India). That BG was in the process of deploying to the Philippines but never made it (6 of its aircraft landed at PH during the Japanese attack on 7 Dec 1941) Instead its air echelon flew East from the US, via Africa & India to end up on Java to be joined by its ground crews that had been diverted to Australia. It did however fly some operations over those islands. In March 1942 it had wound up in India.

On 20th July 1942, the 19 surviving HALPRO B24D and the 9 Brereton Det B-17E were combined to form the 1st Provisional Group at Lydda, Palestine. Then on 19th Oct 1942 it was rolled into a newly constituted 4 squadron 376th BG at Lydda as part of USAMEAF. That in turn became the US Ninth AF on 12 Nov 1942. The B-24D equipped 98th BG was deployed from the USA to the ME, arriving at the end of July 1942 into Aug at Ramat David & St d'Acre in Palestine. They flew their first operation on 1 Aug 1942.

On 8th June 1942 the Liberator B.II of 160 squadron RAF started to leave Britain. Originally intended for India, these aircraft were retained in the ME when they arrived at Aqir, Palestine on 11 June. Two aircraft from this unit joined the HALPRO B-24 on the 15/16 June attack on the Italian Fleet. Liberator B.II of 159 squadron RAF arrived in Palestine at the beginning of July, joining the ME bomber offensive until they flew on to India at the end of Sept.

Also sent out from Britain to the ME in June 1942 were Halifax B.II detachments from 10 and 76 squadrons RAF. They were consolidated, along with spare ground crew from other units, to form 462 (Australian) squadron on 7 Sept 1942.

These units were all augmenting the Wellington squadrons in 205 bomber group already in the ME.
 
MIflyer said:
The 24 B-24's represented a long range bomber force that exceeded the capabilities on anything the RAF had in the Middle east and they were sent to Palestine. On 13 Jun 1942 13 B-24's attacked Ploesti. Clouds prevented them from doing significant harm to the Ploesti oil fields. Five were shot down and others had to make emergency landings. Only four made it back to their destination base, although some of the others were repaired and sent on later.
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And poisoned the well for everyone else.
 
MIflyer said:
Same thing for the B-25's from the Doolittle Mission.

On 23 July 1942 the 48 B-24's of the USAAF 98th Bomb Group arrived in Egypt. Note this all was months before Operation Torch. I have to admit I did not think of US Forces being in Africa until after Torch, but it is obvious they were tipping the scales in the Med theater well before then.
Click to expand...
In addition to the heavy bombers there were the following units deployed to Egypt in summer 1942.

57th FG with 72 P-40F.
Loaded onto CV-4 Ranger which left the USA on 1 July 1942. They were flown off to Accra on the Gold Coast (now Ghana) in West Africa on 19th July and then across Africa to Egypt. After honing its skills under the tutelage of the RAF & SAAF squadrons of the Desert Air Force, it began operations in its own right in Oct.

12th BG with B-25.
Left USA in July / Aug 1942 via the South Atlantic ferry route and then across Africa to the Canal Zone in Egypt. Again they spent time with RAF / SAAF units before operating themselves. First mission on their own was 31 Aug 1942. Initially operated at night.

All this was happening at a time when the desert war was proceeding very much in Rommel's favour. Tobruk had fallen in June. The 8th Army was retreating to El Alamein. The Vigorous convoy from eastern end of the Med to Malta had failed entirely, while the Harpoon convoy from the western end of the Med had suffered serious losses. Malta was just holding on until the Pedestal convoy in Aug provided some relief. Every bit of help was gratefully received.
 
MIflyer said:
The book Turning the Tide describes a bit on the Halverson Provisional Detachment (HALPRO). It originally was a Doolittle raid type of mission that would involve B-24's attacking Japan from China, led by Colonel Henry Halverson. They would journey across the South Atlantic, across Africa and on to India and China. They were in Sudan when the Doolittle Raid occurred, which canceled their mission.

The 24 B-24's represented a long range bomber force that exceeded the capabilities on anything the RAF had in the Middle east and they were sent to Palestine. On 13 Jun 1942 13 B-24's attacked Ploesti. Clouds prevented them from doing significant harm to the Ploesti oil fields. Five were shot down and others had to make emergency landings. Only four made it back to their destination base, although some of the others were repaired and sent on later.

On 16 June 7 of the B-24's attacked the Italian Fleet, which was attempting to intercept a RN convoy but did little damage. The B-24's were then used on night missions to attack the port facilities at Tobruk and Benghazi so to disrupt the supply lines for the Africa Corps, which met with significant success. Rommel blamed his failure to take El Alamein on inadequate supplies.

In July the HALPRO firce was joined by the 9 surviving B-17 that escaped the PI and formed the 1st Provisional Bomb Group. The B-17's and B-24's flew frequent missions to attack Axis shipping as well as the supply ports.

I had no idea that we tried to send B-24's to China in early 1942 or that the B-17's from the PI ended up in the ME.

I did not realie we
Click to expand...
The B-17s were not from the PI. They were all B-17Es. That model was not in the PI. They were part of the Brereton Detachment that came from India. Some of the B-17Es were previously in Java.
 
Dimlee said:
Good point. However, in 1942, Uncle and his comrades desperately needed Western assistance.
Could the sense of desperation overcome the suspicions and ideological hostility towards "the capitalists"... who knows.
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Well in Sept 1941 the RAF did send 151 Wing with two Hurricane squadrons to defend Murmansk and train Soviet pilots to fly the Hurricanes then being delivered. Operations Benedict and Strength.

That was followed in Sept 1942 by Operation Orator, when 2 squadrons of Hampden torpedo bombers were sent there as part of operations to cover convoy PQ18.
en.m.wikipedia.org

No. 151 Wing RAF - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org en.m.wikipedia.org
 
EwenS said:
Well in Sept 1941 the RAF did send 151 Wing with two Hurricane squadrons to defend Murmansk and train Soviet pilots to fly the Hurricanes then being delivered. Operations Benedict and Strength.

That was followed in Sept 1942 by Operation Orator, when 2 squadrons of Hampden torpedo bombers were sent there as part of operations to cover convoy PQ18.
en.m.wikipedia.org

No. 151 Wing RAF - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org en.m.wikipedia.org
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Very good points both. In the timeframe set by Dimlee Dimlee Uncle Joe could be more than willing to let the USAAF to strike the germans in the backfront.
 
In July 1941 the British agreed to supply 200 Tomahawk I's to the Soviets, 140 shipped direct from the UK and 60 sent from the Middle East. USAAF officers Hub Zemke and Johnny Alison were sent to help with the assembly of the fighters, test fly them, and instruct the Soviet pilots. They left for the USSR by ship in Augusta 1941. During his test flying Zemke spotted a Dornier 215 and went after it, but it escaped into clouds. They returned to the US after the Pearl Harbor attack.

P-40BforShipping1.jpg
 
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MIflyer said:
In July 1941 the British agreed to supply 200 Tomahawk I's to the Soviets, 140 shipped direct from the UK and 60 sent from the Middle East. USAAF officers Hub Zemke and Johnny Alison were sent to help with the assembly of the fighters, test fly them, and instruct the Soviet pilots. They left for the USSR by ship in Augusta 1941. During his test flying Zemke spotted a Dornier 215 and went after it, but it escaped into clouds. They returned to the US after the Pearl Harbor attack.

View attachment 828352
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Nice picture. When I see one of those, I think "what-if" Malcolm Mclean is born 10-15 years earlier...
 
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