A few statistics about the Eighth Air Force:...

350,000 men served with the Eighth, 26,000 were killed in WW II, or 7.42%...Strictly measuring mortality rates for 210,000 aircrewman the figure is 12.38%, also, 21,000 from the Eighth had to bail out and wound up in POW camps. The Eighth logged 6,537 B-17s and B-24s lost, and another 3,337 fighters destroyed. More airmen with Eighth lost their lives than were lost in the entire US Marine Corps in WW II. Fatalities for the U.S.M.C were 3.29%, US Army 2.25%, US Navy .41%.

For a 25 mission bomber tour in 1942-43 only 35% survived.

For a 30 mission bomber tour in 1944 66% survived.

For a 35 mission bomber tour in 1944-45 81% survived.

What did the Eighth Air Force do? Initially the Eighth was to conduct a strategic campaign in which certain segments of the enemy's industry would be bombed into a state of ineffectiveness. For example, an early theory sought to block the manufacture of Ball Bearings (Schweinfurt). The thought being that most war making equipment could not be made without these essential bearings. Bombing these plants would adversely affect all manufacture of tanks and aircraft. The Eighth at that time did not have escort fighters with long range capability and was too small to get the job done fully, and Germany was able to disperse this industry successfully, taking it out of harms way... The Eighth then concentrated on aircraft manufacturing which was effected but not stopped. (The "Big Week campaign in February '44). The most effective way to destroy the Luftwaffe was by "unleashing our escort fighters and, using bombers to draw up the enemy fighter force so that our escort fighters could shoot them down. The most effective consequence was the Luftwaffe's loss of its veteran fighter pilots as well as its planes... and a growing inability to train replacement fighter pilots. The Germans practically eliminated the Luftwaffe bomber force by converting bomber pilots to fighter pilots, but even this well was running dry. Basic flying training in Germany was a practical impossibility. Student Pilots became fair game for our fighters.

The bomber operation that sealed Germany's doom was the campaign against synthetic oil. When these synthetic refineries were destroyed, manufacturing became moot. Producing tanks meant nothing if you didn't have the fuel to run them. Why manufacture aircraft if you had no fuel to fly them? The campaign against transportation Rail Marshaling yards) assured that movement of materials became impossible. The country came to a standstill.

Because of bomber operations, much of German's manufacturing had to be dedicated to home defense Dual-purpose guns such as the 88mm antiaircraft guns could have been used on other fronts against our ground forces, but the bombers kept these armaments in Germany protecting the Reich. How many thousands upon thousands of people were tied up with manning this air defense system?

When our troops looked up and saw high contrails going into Germany, they probably had no idea of what the Eighth was doing for them. The fighters and bombers making those contrails were keeping the Luftwaffe off the backs of our ground troops. A German fighter shot down could never again be a threat over the front lines. Refineries that were leveled could not produce the fuel for that Tiger Tank that "might" have been facing them across the lines. Bombed marshaling yards "might" have prevented that load of 88mm shells from getting to the front. A critical battle "might" have been won because "horse drawn" German artillery got there to late.

This is in no way meant to lesson the praise for our ground troops. Wars are not won until foot soldiers "take the ground". But, consider how much more difficult it would have been for our ground troops if we had not won superiority in the air! Consider the casualties if the Luftwaffe had gained air superiority over the front. What if those fighter-bombers had not been P-47s, but FW 190s strafing our men?

Thank God it's over and in the history books. Here's to all the men in the air and on the ground, and at sea, who won that war... Here's to those who never had a grave and are the "Wall of the Missing" at Maddingly, near Cambridge, England...

May They All Rest In Peace...