drgondog
Major
A question came up recently regarding the co-ordination of bombers and fighters for a mission. Interestingly enough, I once had a conversation on this topic with General Gunther Rall, who had continued his career after the war was over in the new Luftwaffe formed by West Germany.
Long story short - while he greatly respected 8th Air Force Fighter Command in its role as escort to 8th Air Force bombers, the most impressive facet of American Airpower, aside from the strength of arms, was the incredible achievement of launching 35+ Bomb groups and 15 Fighter groups in good weather and bad, forming them up from 50 different airfields at different times, assembling the Task Forces in the order they were planned, lifting the fighter groups at different times to meet the bombers at different times and locations to meet the bombers at a precise time and location and executing the missions in a manner, when achieved, that it made for very difficult task for Luftwaffe to attack an undefended Bomber group.
Below is a Mission Briefing map for the 355th FG which 355th Operations team puts together following arrival of teletype "Frag Order' detailing the assignment for the 355th FG with respect to a.) Target, b.) Rendezvous Point and time to hook up with the assigned bomb groups to escort, c.) the specific boxes assigned and where in the bomber stream they should be (as identified by the Group symbol on the tail), d.) the other Fighter Groups also expected to escort other boxes in say a 10 box Task Force, as well as their order along the bomber track, and e.) the route to be flown.
From the map developed and the time and place of the R/V point, each stage from R/V time, back to Take Off time, back through Engine Start time, through Briefing time, through Breakfast and Wake up time is developed. The Group Commander decides the order and placement of the individual fighter squadrons - which in turn fine tunes engine Start time based on the formation organization. The Squadron Engineering Officer checks the Status Board for available aircraft, reports back to Squadron CO who then develops the pilots and flight assignment for those aircraft and alerts the Tower Control Officer regarding the Order of Battle and issues instruction for Wake Up to the selected pilots, aircraft and ground crews so that the aircraft receive a final pre-flight check on time for the pilot to make his own walk around.
Once Take Off commences and the Group forms up, they climb for altitude and head for the R/V point, checking times against the Waypoints for the route to the R/V. The Group Commander and each squadron Commander are tuned into C channel for their comm sets listening for any alerts from their assigned bomber Wing Commander until they reach the bomber stream. Normally the fighter Group CO gets status updates from the lead bomber regarding their estimated progress toward being at the R/V point on-time. This is critical as other fighter groups (mostly P-47 in 1944) launched earlier to escort this same bomb Division on Penetration, will be running low on fuel and the need to connect before they turn back is crucial.
Notice some interesting aspects regarding Field Order 1785A, for the 2nd BD targets near Ingolstadt, including Leiphem and Neuberg airfields.
First, the combined bomber stream with all three Bomb divisions spilt up over France with both B-17 Bomb Divisions continuing eastward to attack Zwickau, Jena, Plauen as primary targets as the B-24s of the Second BD head southeast where the 479, 361st, 4th and 355th arrive at the R/V point south of Strasbourg, then take a convoluted route to avoid the flack concentrations denoted by 'circles'. The order of the B-24 bomb groups are displayed as 'tail symbols' on the far right with the 355th escorting the leading three boxes, then the 4th picking up the next three boxes, then the 361st and finally the 479th FG.
After the 2nd Division targets are bombed they turn north to rejoin the 1st and 2nd BD and planned R/V west of Fulda near Freidberg where the 2n BD picks up the rear position and all head back for England on the same track. The 355th breaks escort at Aachen and returns home..
Long story short - while he greatly respected 8th Air Force Fighter Command in its role as escort to 8th Air Force bombers, the most impressive facet of American Airpower, aside from the strength of arms, was the incredible achievement of launching 35+ Bomb groups and 15 Fighter groups in good weather and bad, forming them up from 50 different airfields at different times, assembling the Task Forces in the order they were planned, lifting the fighter groups at different times to meet the bombers at different times and locations to meet the bombers at a precise time and location and executing the missions in a manner, when achieved, that it made for very difficult task for Luftwaffe to attack an undefended Bomber group.
Below is a Mission Briefing map for the 355th FG which 355th Operations team puts together following arrival of teletype "Frag Order' detailing the assignment for the 355th FG with respect to a.) Target, b.) Rendezvous Point and time to hook up with the assigned bomb groups to escort, c.) the specific boxes assigned and where in the bomber stream they should be (as identified by the Group symbol on the tail), d.) the other Fighter Groups also expected to escort other boxes in say a 10 box Task Force, as well as their order along the bomber track, and e.) the route to be flown.
From the map developed and the time and place of the R/V point, each stage from R/V time, back to Take Off time, back through Engine Start time, through Briefing time, through Breakfast and Wake up time is developed. The Group Commander decides the order and placement of the individual fighter squadrons - which in turn fine tunes engine Start time based on the formation organization. The Squadron Engineering Officer checks the Status Board for available aircraft, reports back to Squadron CO who then develops the pilots and flight assignment for those aircraft and alerts the Tower Control Officer regarding the Order of Battle and issues instruction for Wake Up to the selected pilots, aircraft and ground crews so that the aircraft receive a final pre-flight check on time for the pilot to make his own walk around.
Once Take Off commences and the Group forms up, they climb for altitude and head for the R/V point, checking times against the Waypoints for the route to the R/V. The Group Commander and each squadron Commander are tuned into C channel for their comm sets listening for any alerts from their assigned bomber Wing Commander until they reach the bomber stream. Normally the fighter Group CO gets status updates from the lead bomber regarding their estimated progress toward being at the R/V point on-time. This is critical as other fighter groups (mostly P-47 in 1944) launched earlier to escort this same bomb Division on Penetration, will be running low on fuel and the need to connect before they turn back is crucial.
Notice some interesting aspects regarding Field Order 1785A, for the 2nd BD targets near Ingolstadt, including Leiphem and Neuberg airfields.
First, the combined bomber stream with all three Bomb divisions spilt up over France with both B-17 Bomb Divisions continuing eastward to attack Zwickau, Jena, Plauen as primary targets as the B-24s of the Second BD head southeast where the 479, 361st, 4th and 355th arrive at the R/V point south of Strasbourg, then take a convoluted route to avoid the flack concentrations denoted by 'circles'. The order of the B-24 bomb groups are displayed as 'tail symbols' on the far right with the 355th escorting the leading three boxes, then the 4th picking up the next three boxes, then the 361st and finally the 479th FG.
After the 2nd Division targets are bombed they turn north to rejoin the 1st and 2nd BD and planned R/V west of Fulda near Freidberg where the 2n BD picks up the rear position and all head back for England on the same track. The 355th breaks escort at Aachen and returns home..