Figure 1.--The focus of the U.S. Army Air Corps upon entering World War II was on the strategic bombing of the Reich. Resources were centered on building up the 8th Air Force in Britain--'The Mighty Eighth'. Amazingly the Army Air Corps despite being a unit of the U.S. Army had no tactical, ground support doctrine or desire to develop one. This changed only slowly. As part of the D-Day planning, the 9th Air Force was activated and, despite the opposition of the Bomber Boys, created the foundation for a tactical ground support doctrine. At the time of the landings it was just bginning to take shape. Even so, it reaped immediate benefits, disrupting German efforts to bring forces forward to attack the Allied beachheads. It would also play a major role in the ensuing Allied sweep across Frances. After the heavy bombers blasted a hole in the German lines where the Panzer Lehr division once existed, Allied fighters like the P-47 Thunderbolts and their heavy ordinance payload kept up with the American armored divisions that moved forward across France at an amazing speed. This is what Amnerican recon units found at Avranches which was the way out of Normandy and the gateway to Brittany and Central France. The press caption read, "Wrecked German Vehicles Clog Streets of Avranches: Cluttering the streets of Avranches, France, are part of 384 tanks and 2,287 German vehicles destroyed by the 9th air Firce fighter-bombers in one week after the beginning of the american offensive on July 25, 1944. U.S. Secretary of war Henry L. Stimson in commenting on the fine cooperation of Allied air and ground forces, said" 'that Amerivan planes made every enemy withdrawl of tanks and trucks a costly business , and that enemy ground forces, had no protective air cover of their oewn." The photo was dated August 5, 1944.

The United States during inter inter-War era developed the largest aviation industry in the world. Government air mail and military contracts helped, but the primary driver was capitalism--the public demand for commercial air travel. This gave the United States the capability of building a large air force, but the Axis powers had no idea just how large nor for that matter dis the U.S. military. With the rise of the NAZIs and the possibility of another war, the United States like the British looked at techhnology, namely air power, as a way to win a future war with out the terrible losses of World War I. America in the throws of fighting the Depression and with both anti-war and isoltionist feeling continued to sharply limit defense spending. President Roosevelt was unnagurated at about the same time Hitler was appointed chancelor. American public opinion and th Depression crisis limited his foreign policy options. But from the very beginning he was hostile to Hitler and the NAZIs. The President's defense policy was to commit the great bulk of appropriations to technological approaches, both the Army Air Corps and the Navy. The Army received very limited funding. Roosevelt's hope was that the Navy could protect the homeland and the air power could win a future war with limited losses of men. The U.S. Army Air Corps despite being an Army unit was committed to strategic bombing rather than tactical air to support ground forces. The Army Air Corps was dominated by commanders who were committed to strategic bombing -- the so called Bomber Boys led by Hap Arnold. And the resources, training, and planning all focused on strategic bombing. The center-piece of the Army Air Corps became the B-17 Flying Fortress which the Bomber Boys believed could fight its way through to enemy targts without the need of fighter protection. The Bomber Boys were so dominant that few in the Air Corps aluing their careers dared to question them. Rare voices for fighters and tactical air, like Claire Chennault, saw their careers limited and were pushed aside. Fighters were developed but their role was not clearly thought out. There was no effort to develop a tactical air doctrine focusing on ground support. In fact the Bomber Boys were firmly opposed to having scarce resources drawn away from what they saw as their main war-winning mission -- to destroy the ability of an enemy nation to make war. The Japanese carrier attack at Pearl Harbor thrust the United States into the War. And both the Army Air Corps and Navy found at a very early point that their fighters were not up to the standards of the Japanese and Germans and that the famed B-17 was less capable than the Bomber Boys believed. The United States had the world's largest aviation industry and the the huge appropriations following Pearl Harbor significantly expanded that capacity. Soon American industry not only began producing modern aircraft in astronomical numbers, but created new advanced aircraft that could compete with Axis aircraft. The Axis was unable to compete in production levels. The Germans could have competed in quality, but failed to do so. The United States would join the British strategic bombing campaign over northern Europe, but also produce tactical aircraft in huge numbers. Production was so large that aircraft were available not only to fight the Pacific War, but to supply allies as well. The German lost the Battle of Britain because the Me-109 did not have a range much beyond the Channel. The new P-51 Mustng could fly to Berlin and back. The P-51 would defeat the Luftwaffe in the skies over Germany, making D-Day possible. The full use of these fighters was at first impaired by the lack of a tactical air doctrine. This developed slowly, but by the time of D-Day the new 9th Air Force unleased tactical air as well as strategic bombardment on the Germans. And such was the immense capability of American industry, that the strategic bombing effort after the breakout from Normandy went ahead full force. By the end of the War, German industrial cities were left huge piles of rubble and Japanese wood and paper cities mounds of cinders.

Created: 3:37 PM 11/1/2016
Last updated: 3:37 PM 11/1/2016