U.S Ninth Air Force

[P38 Pilot]

Great job with the history PD! Really enjoyed reading it.

Nice photos of the B-25s Blackwolf!

[evangilder]

Great stuff, guys!

[plan_D]

USAMEAF over El Alamein. October 19th to November 4th.

Air Attacks: 19th - 23rd October.

With the USAMEAF formed in the Middle-East, the US had now joined the war over North Africa in force. The four Groups under USAMEAF were in preparation for support of the upcoming British offensive at El Alamein. This support began on the night of 19 October to gain absolute air superiority over the Axis air forces before the coming offensive.

The aims were to destroy the enemy fighter force, and prevent enemy reconnaissance, destroy enemy supply and communication in the Tobruk-Sollum area and break the morale of the enemy troops.

From 19 to 21 October, the Allied air forces flew 409 sorties against enemy landing grounds, 228 in direct support of 8th Army and 54 patrol sorties. On the 22nd and 23rd all efforts were directed at enemy landing grounds with heavy bombers even hitting Maleme Airdrome on Crete. Fighter sweeps rarely encountered enemy opposition and it was clear that the Allies had air superiority. In fact, the Allies had 605 fighters, 254 light and medium bombers and 61 heavy bombers serviceable while the Axis had 347 fighters, 72 dive bombers and 171 medium bombers serviceable.

Infantry Advance: 23rd - 31st October.

At 2140 hours, 23 October the British artillery opened up on the Alamein line. It was followed twenty minutes later by the infantry advance which initiated the last Battle for El Alamein. The USAMEAF was no directed to support the ground formations as much as possible. On the 24th the 12th Bombardment Group flew 50 sorties against enemy vehicles with the 57th Fighter Group as escort. On the 25th the 12th Bomb Group flew 30 sorties against enemy vehicles while 57th, once again, flew escort. On these two days, the 57th Fighter Group shot down three Bf 109s without loss.

On the 26th the Axis counter-attacked the British infantry on the ground, and counter-attacked the Allied air forces in the skies over the desert. 12th Bomb Group flew 18 sorties on this day, while 57th Fighter Group flew 72. In the air the Axis lost six Bf 109s, eight MC 202s and three Ju 87 'Stukas'. Four Allied fighters failed to return. Also on this day the heavy bombers made an appearance over Tobruk to hit convoys.

On the 27th the 57th Fighter Group used a new tactic in attacking German airfields. Taking off in darkness, the P-40s attacked Fuka at low-altitude and strafed the airfield destroying several planes, trucks and tents. 65th and 64th squadron P-40s engaged in heavy combat later in the day when, while on a fighter-bomber mission, encountered twenty CR-42s, twenty Ju 87s and twenty Bf 109s. The P-40s turned into the enemy claiming seven destroyed, three probably destroyed and three damaged without loss.

On the 28th Allied fighters claimed nine enemy fighters destroyed, four of these were claimed by 57th Fighter Group. The second phase of the British offensive began on this night aimed to drive into the enemy flank and cut his supply. The Allied air forces kept pressure on the Axis air forces and ate away at their supplies.

On the night of the 29th 1st Provisional Group was the first USAMEAF, Bomber Command unit to lose a plane when one was lost while attacking Maleme Airdrome. On the 30th RAF 160 Squadron attacked the same target. On the next night, the 31st October, 1st Provisional Group and 98th Bomb Group attacked Maleme once again. 1st Provisional Group landed back at base as the 376th Bombardment Group as the redesignation came into effect at midnight. These operations against Maleme were in an attempt to halt the supplies being flown from there by Ju 52s.

From the 19th October to the 31st, 12th Bombardment Group (M) flew 300 sorties with the loss of two B-25s. 57th Fighter Group flew 743 sorties, claiming 27 aircraft destroyed, 6 probably destroyed and 15 damaged with a loss of two P-40s. The AAF bombers claimed 7 enemy aircraft destroyed and 4 probably destroyed. The one heavy bomber was lost.

Armour advance: 2nd - 4th November.

On 2 November, British armour moved over the ground won and cleared by the infantry. German resistance was stiff, they used their 88 mm FlaK guns and own armour to great effect and casualties were heavy on both sides. 600 Allied sorties were flown in support of the armour on this day, 12th carried out 40 of those. The 57th flew 70 sorties on this day, some were strafing and fighter-bomber sorties. Seven enemy planes were caught on the ground during the dawn sweeps of enemy airfields. 376th sent five B-17Es to Tobruk on this day where they caught two "medium-sized" merchant vessels with direct hits, and set the harbour ablaze.

The 3 November saw the Axis attempt to save the battle with a use of their own air forces. The Allied fighters claimed 18 bombers and 7 fighters destroyed or probably destroyed. The 57th claimed two Bf 109s destroyed and one probable in the 88 sorties the Group flew on this day. The 12th flew 45 sorties against the enemy traffic on the Daba - Fuka road and against enemy strongpoints. Over 300 vehicles were left burning or immobilised during these operations.

The 4 November saw the heavy bombers raid Benghazi. The Axis forces had now been thrown into full-scale retreat. The British began massive drives into the enemy lines, and pursued the retreating enemy. The air forces continued support, attacking the enemy traffic moving westward across the coastal road. 12th Group carried out 42 sorties on this day.

Picture : 66th Fighter Squadron - P-40 Warhawks in the desert.

[Erich]

curious where are you pulling this up from ? .......... Ken Rusts book on the 9th AF or ?

there still needs to be a book covering 9th AF ops as they are still confusing especially the 9th AF B-26 ops which the bomb groups seem for some oddity do not like to share info with outside sources/researchers............me for one.

[plan_D]

A lot of it is from The Ninth Air Force in World War II. And no, I'm not copying it. The details are "copied" but you can't exactly make that up. I've missed a lot of the book out for obvious reasons. I've got The Earthquakers on order, so a bit more information will come from that book. I was going to get 79th Fighter Group history too, but it's £40 ... more than I can spare at the moment.

And yes, the U.S Ninth does need a history of operations.

[Erich]

Plan wish I could share a honest opinion with you on History in the Sky 354th fg. I hae an orgiinal copy with faded pics and signed within from this top scoring ETO fighter group from my home stae of Oregon. the book sucks, no text.

A new book is coming out last I heard next month from a well known P-38 author on the unit. there are several B-26 units in print but the operations are very breif day by day on average. Schiffer pubs has 1-2 of the 9th AF fighter group histories, the last I beleive is a huge one on the little known 370th fg, with P-38 to transition to P-51.

let me recommend the Thundermonsters over Europe, P-47 405th bg. Not bad for a softbound book on a unit

the 2 P-61 squads have almost a big fat 0 on each of them. I have their micorfische history copie dfor me by 2 425th nfs vets but that is about it. Seems every 9th AF unit has an OLD group history with 3/4rs and more enver re-released in print which I find a crime. There is so much US 8th AF books out there they are running over each other with the same old news.........

E

[plan_D]

Well, the 12th Bombardment Group and 79th Fighter Group histories are quite new. But I believe they both departed U.S Ninth Air Force by the time it re-organised in Britain in October, 1943.

[Erich]

Plan :

another future work for this year is on the P-47 unit the 368th fg. Plenty of colour too in the book I heard. Unit shot up over 700 locos with over 200 damaged, 143 air kills and 117 ground. Cannot really be compared with the aerial kill activities of the US 8th fg true, but the 9th AF roles for the P-47 were different in the ETO.........

[plan_D]

I have another work on the U.S Ninth - The Ninth Air Force in Colour by Roger A. Freeman. No history, but all the groups that operated out of England in picture. And some interesting captions. It's a good accompanying book. Some decent pictures of the 422nd and 425th Night Fighter Squadron P-61s

[Erich]

scan a few if you would please, maybe able to tell you whom flew what P-61 by the aircraft a/c numbers, though the pilots did a trade off due to too few P-61's in the squads

[plan_D]

I will scan some when I head over to my girlfriends house sometime this week, she has a scanner, I don't. But I can tell you I've got pictures of

422nd NFS:

P-61A - 42-5565 - Pilot: 1/Lt. Robert G. Bolinder - Name: "Double Trouble"
P-61A - 42-5558 - Pilot: ? - Name: ?
A-20G - ? - Pilot: ? - Name: ?

425th NFS:

P-61A - 42-5570 - Pilot: ? - Name: ?
P-61B - ? - Pilot: ? - Name: "Hel'N Back"
P-61A - ? - Pilot: ? - Name: "Dangerous Dan"
P-61? - ? - Pilot: ? - Name: "Tabitha"

[Erich]

Talked with Bolinder back in 94, he has since passed on. Interesting guy, he flew several P-61's with the 414th attached to the 422nd nfs.

Dangerous Dan was flown by my friend Bud Anderson who is now the rep or was with the 425th nfs, and Byars also flew the P-61 as well.

Bud flew 24 missions mostly night ground attack broke his leg sadly while slipping on ice which threw him out of the war.

[plan_D]

What rank was Bud when flying Dangerous Dan?

[Erich]

not certain but think a Leutenant

[tundra_tramp]

This photo comes from an RAF 112 squadron Pilot Bert Horden, it is a picture of "Dogpatch Raider" on her return from the Ploesti mission. Ithad to land at Pachino. Crew members are not known at this time, Wally Rutherford an RAF 112 Squadron pilot grins from the cockpit. It was the RAF 112 Squadron that helped aclimitize the 57th Fihter Group to the MTO.