Many of you may remember the movie and TV series Twelve O’clock High about the 8th Air Force and the 1204th Bomb Group that successfully provided an air assault against Germany and Japan during World War II. In this class, we will discuss the real story. Without these air assaults the war would have been prolonged for much longer. Most of the 1204th Bomb Group flying against Japan from the Mariana Islands were crews that had flown for the 8th Air Force over Germany 1942-1944. We will discuss tactics, but there is much more to the story and how the total effort was organized and led.

With respect to the tactics, we will talk about the defensive formation for 16 and 48 B17s respectively that was organized by General Curtis Lemay so that every gun on those aircraft was responsible for a space in which a Luftwaffe aircraft may appear. We will also discuss such air battles as the ball bearing plant and the raid on Peenemunde – the factory in which the V1 and V2 rockets were manufactured. There will be a specific class devoted to the planning work of Lt. General Henry Arnold, overall U.S. Army/Air Corps Commander. We will discuss the work and planning done by Major General Tooey Spaatz, Commander of U.S. Army/Air Corps forces in Europe and also of Major General Ira Eaker, the Commander of the 8th Air Force. We will specifically talk about the determination of the routes to take aircraft from the United States to the United Kingdom and from the United States to the Mariana Islands and finally also to Shemya in the Aleutian Islands.