This silent reel of gun camera footage shows the activities of pilots of the VIIIth Air Force Fighter Command in the skies over Occupied Europe in July, 1944. At this time it appears the VIII was flying the P-47, P-38 and P-51 Mustang and it was D-Day plus roughly one month, so many of the air operations appear to have been offensive in nature, disrupting German supply lines in the form of railroads, roads, bridges and air fields in line Gen. Jimmy Doolittle’s strategy.
Pilots mentioned include Lt. F. C. Neslam of the 504th Squadron at 12:15, Lt. R.P. Tibor at 9:08, Lt. L.L. Earls at 2:09, Lt. K.T. Crawford at 2:53, Lt. D.G. Elliot at 5:12, Lt. T.B. Luckett at 6:07, Lt. L.E. Jaklich at 7:49, Lt. C.C. Gould at 9:38, Lt. M.M. Coons at 11:00, Lt. W.H. Allen at 13:41, Capt. J.J. May at 15:09, Lt. Auchincloss at 15:45, and Lt. Rafferty at 16:19.
Each one of these pilots can likely be identified with a little searching. Lt. Auchincloss is almost certainly Lt. Bayard C. Auchincloss, who the Internet indicates flew a P-47 named “The New Yorker”, and who survived the war and lived until 2001 when he died at the ripe old age of 79.
The VIII Fighter Command was a United States Army Air Forces unit of command above the Wings and below the numbered air force. Its primary mission was command and control of fighter operations within the Eighth Air Force. In the World War II European Theater, its primary mission was air superiority. Its last assignment was with the United States Air Forces in Europe, being stationed at RAF Honington,
When Lt. Gen. Jimmy Doolittle took command of the Eighth Air Force in January 1944, he initiated a policy change. Previously, fighters were largely tied to the bombers, but Doolittle and General Kepner freed many fighters to go “down on the deck” and allowed them to become far more aggressive. The fighters were now able to seek out the Luftwaffe and actively attack their airfields. This resulted in Luftwaffe losses rising to unsustainable levels, increasing pressure on the German fighter arm, with an attendant reduction in USAAF bomber losses, while fighter losses inevitably rose.
The VIII Fighter Command was constituted initially as “VIII Interceptor Command” at Selfridge Field, Michigan on 19 January 1942. Equipped with the 4th and 5th Air Defense wings, the command’s mission was air defense over the north central United States. The command’s mission was changed as it was ordered to deploy to Britain in February 1942 as first it was reassigned to Charleston AAF on 13 February, then shipped overseas to England where on 12 May it set up headquarters at Bushey Hall, near Watford, Hertfordshire.
During much of 1943, bomber escort for VIII Bomber Command was the primary mission for VIII Fighter Command. Fighter groups had a mix of aircraft models of the fighter type plus some administrative utility and liaison types. During 1942-1943, the assigned fighter groups flew three types of aircraft during 1942-43: the Supermarine Spitfire, the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and the Lockheed P-38 Lightning.
Eventually the fighter groups were organized into three Fighter Wings. These were the 65th, 66th and 67th. When the Eighth Air Force converted from Bombardment Divisions to Air Divisions, the Fighter Wings came under operational control of the three Air Divisions. In September 1944, the VIII Fighter Command attached its fighter wings to the Eighth Air Force’s Bombardment Divisions. This reassignment of the three fighter wings created the Air Divisions within the Eighth Air Force, replacing the Bombardment Divisions.
VIII Fighter Command also attacked German transport, logistics centers, and troops during the Normandy campaign, though tactical operations in the European Theater largely were the realm of the Ninth Air Force. During the Battle of the Bulge in late December 1944, several VIII Fighter Command groups were attached to Ninth Air Force Tactical Air Command to relieve the Army’s ground forces with close-air support. After the initial German attack was blunted by early January, the units remained attached until February 1945, assisting the counter-attack by Allied forces.
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