Summary of James Holland's Big Week , livre ebook

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42 pages

English

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Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 By 1943, Britain had been in the war for almost two years. The Battle of the Atlantic had been won, meaning the Allies could plan the road to final victory. The USA had become an arsenal of democracy by December 1941, but the journey there had begun in the summer of 1940.
#2 Air power was central to both Britain and America’s military growth, and a key part of their strategy. However, the weather was becoming a constraint, and American pilots had a better chance of survival than any other air combatants.
#3 American fighter pilots had plenty of high-octane aviation fuel, and with just one operational mission every few days, they had plenty of time to hone their skills. New pilots arriving to join the 56th Fighter Group were now entering an increasingly combat-experienced outfit.
#4 Gabreski was sent to England in 1942 to join the Eighth Air Force. He was assigned to the 61st Fighter Squadron, and was given command of B Flight. The American fighter group was much larger than the German or British equivalent, with about forty aircraft and four times the number of pilots.

Sujets

Histoire

Military

Strategy

History

Stratégie (patron de conception)

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Publié par	Everest Media LLC
Date de parution	11 mai 2022
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9798822506312
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0150€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Insights on James Holland's Big Week
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

By 1943, Britain had been in the war for almost two years. The Battle of the Atlantic had been won, meaning the Allies could plan the road to final victory. The USA had become an arsenal of democracy by December 1941, but the journey there had begun in the summer of 1940.

#2

Air power was central to both Britain and America’s military growth, and a key part of their strategy. However, the weather was becoming a constraint, and American pilots had a better chance of survival than any other air combatants.

#3

American fighter pilots had plenty of high-octane aviation fuel, and with just one operational mission every few days, they had plenty of time to hone their skills. New pilots arriving to join the 56th Fighter Group were now entering an increasingly combat-experienced outfit.

#4

Gabreski was sent to England in 1942 to join the Eighth Air Force. He was assigned to the 61st Fighter Squadron, and was given command of B Flight. The American fighter group was much larger than the German or British equivalent, with about forty aircraft and four times the number of pilots.

#5

The 4th Fighter Group was based near Cambridge, and was led by Don Blakeslee, a legendary figure within VIII Fighter Command. He was gruff, but others were drawn to him and his magnetic personality.

#6

Blakeslee was a great believer in the RAF tradition of hard drinking and high living, and he never allowed either of them to interfere with constant readiness to fly and fly well at any time.

#7

Blakeslee was the embodiment of the spirit of the 4th Fighter Group, but he was far from unique in possessing an obsessive love of flying combined with stubborn single-mindedness and an unshakeable thirst for adventure.

#8

By the autumn of 1943, VIII Fighter Command was turning itself into a very impressive organization. It had highly motivated pilots of increasing skill and experience, and fine aircraft with which to fight. The only missing ingredient was an aircraft that could take them deep into enemy territory.

#9

The Luftwaffe was the German air force, and it had been expected to lead the way during the Blitzkrieg, but it had been severely overstretched and underappreciated. By 1943, it was clear to the Allies that Germany would lose the war.

#10

By the autumn of 1943, Germany was short of just about everything, but especially of manpower, food, and oil. The Nazi leadership continued to cling to the belief that wonder weapons would come to their rescue, but this was a vain hope.

#11

The German Luftwaffe was suffering from the same problems as the German army and navy, which was a lack of care for its pilots. The only way the pilots could keep flying was by getting shot down or by being killed.

#12

Knoke was married in 1941, and was still combat flying two and a half years later. He had developed the technique of dropping a single bomb on top of American bomber formations, which had prompted a personal call from Reichsmarschall Göring.

#13

Knoke had been shot down on 17 August 1943, when the Americans bombed the ball-bearing plant at Schweinfurt. He had crash-landed at 100 m. p. h. , smashed through three wooden fences, and bounced into the air. He had survived intact.

#14

The Eighth Air Force launched a major strike into Germany on 4 October to hit targets around Frankfurt and Saarbrücken. The weather was good over central Germany that day, so Knoke sensed they would soon be in action.

#15

Knoke was shot down by the Jagdgeschwader, and as he was bailing out, he was hit by bullets. He had to bail out again, and as he was floating down, a Focke-Wulf seaplane flew over and dropped a larger, more sturdy rubber dinghy.

#16

On the 8th, Knoke was in action again, this time targeting Bremen. He was attacked by Thunderbolts, but managed to shoot down a Fortress without harm to his own plane. Two days later, on Sunday, 10 October, he was in action yet again.

#17

The aim of the Allies was a swift end with minimal casualties, but how to achieve that was a matter of debate. The Americans and British believed that air power could bring Nazi Germany to its knees, but they knew that the war could not be won by air power alone.

#18

The Allied leadership might not have believed that air power could win the war, but they all understood that it was the key to a successful re-invasion of the continent. Control over the skies was an absolute prerequisite.

#19

The 100th Bomb Group was based at Thorpe Abbotts in Norfolk, and had been in three consecutive days of battle, the last of which was the mission to Münster on the 10th. They had lost almost one hundred men.

#20

The American Committee of Operation Analysts had recommended Schweinfurt as an important target for the American bombers. The city had been identified as important by the American Committee of Operation Analysts, which had made their first report back in March.

#21

The bombing of the Kugel-Fischer ball-bearing plant at Schweinfurt had been even less successful. The aircraft industry was the prime target: the Arado works at Anklam on the Baltic coast, the Focke-Wulf plant at Marienburg, as well as Münster and Bremen.

#22

The crew of Nine Little Yanks and a Jerk was to be flying mission 115 that day. It was their tenth mission, but the briefing was unlike anything they had experienced before. They were to be split into two flights, one of which would fly the mission attached to the 390th BG, and a second, led by Hughes, which would accompany the 95th.

#23

Hughes had been appointed personnel officer to the Saunders Provisional Group, which was tasked with training new crews. He and the crew of the already christened Nine Little Yanks and a Jerk were leading the way. They had flown to Bangor, Maine, and conducted some further training to study long-range cruise control.

#24

The crews of the 92nd Bomb Group were also learning what the target would be. They had been among the first to join the Eighth Air Force, and had taken part in several early missions. They had built up strength, and were ready to go back into combat.

#25

The briefing was just as unpleasant as it was for the pilots. The intelligence officer explained that only light flak was expected along the route, and that they would be escorted by P-47s all the way to the Ruhr.

#26

The lead bomber squadron, Fame’s Favored Few, was the first to taxi out. They were followed by other Forts. The mission was on, and McLaughlin was flying purely on instruments. They climbed up through the cloud and broke out at around 7,000 feet.

#27

The 13th Combat Wing was now complete, as they neared the German coast. They were attacked by twin-engine German fighters. The fighter escorts left them alone, as they were too far south.

#28

The final turn towards the target was made by the 95th Bomb Group, including Bob Hughes’s squadron from the Hundredth. They were hit and began rapidly descending. The flak had intensified by this time.

#29

The lead bomber of the group was Hughes’s plane, Nine Little Yanks and a Jerk. They were first over the target, but they were still a long way from home. They had to help the struggling Fortresses of the 95th get back into close formation.

#30

The Hundredth flew a mission to Münster, Germany, in October 1944. They were attacked by enemy fighters, and three of their planes were lost. It was a miracle that all eight of their planes made it back to Thorpe Abbotts.

#31

The key issue was whether the gains would outweigh the sacrifice, so Eaker and Anderson waited for intelligence reports and after-action reports to start pouring in. The photos that Bob Hughes took proved that the bombs had, in fact, hit their mark.

#32

The losses on the Schweinfurt II mission were far too high, and they could not be sustained. The week’s efforts had been too damaging and the losses too great for the Eighth Air Force to go back into Germany any time soon, but they needed to achieve more decisive results.