The FReeper Foxhole Profiles General Ira Clarence Eaker - Jan. 12th, 2004

Handbook of Texas ^

[SAMWolf]

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General Ira Clarence Eaker
(1896-1987)

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Ira Clarence Eaker, aviation pioneer and United States Air Force general, was born on April 13, 1896, at Field Creek, Texas, the eldest of five boys born to Young Yancy and Dona Lee (Graham) Eaker. In 1906 the family moved to Concho County, where they spent three years in the rural community of Hills before moving to a farm a mile outside of Eden. They moved to southeastern Oklahoma in 1912 and returned to Eden ten years later. Ira attended public school at Hills, in Eden, and in Kenefic, Oklahoma. He graduated from Southeastern State Teachers College (now Southeastern Oklahoma State University) at Durant, Oklahoma, and entered the United States Army in 1917.

Eaker was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Infantry Section, Officers Reserve Corps, on August 15, 1917, and assigned to the Sixty-fourth Infantry at Fort Bliss, Texas. He received a similar commission in the regular army on October 26, 1917. His aviation experience began in March 1918, when he was directed to attend ground school at the University of Texas in Austin and flight training at Kelly Field at San Antonio. He received his pilot rating and a promotion to first lieutenant on July 17, 1918. After training, he was sent to Rockwell Field, California, where he met Col. H. H. "Hap" Arnold and Maj. Carl A. "Tooey" Spaatz, two men with whom he had a close military relationship for the rest of his life. In July 1919 he was appointed commander of the Second Aero Squadron and sent to the Philippines for a two-year tour. In 1920 he was reassigned as commander of the Third Aero Squadron and promoted to captain. Upon return to the United States in 1921 he was assigned to Mitchel Field, New York; while there, he attended Columbia Law School. He subsequently spent three years to the staff of Maj. Gen. Mason M. Patrick, chief of air service, in Washington, D.C.


January 1929, Major Carl Spaatz, USAAC, with Captain Ira Eaker as relief pilot, shown at left, and a crew of three, set a refueling endurance record of 150 hours 40 minutes in the Fokker C2-3 transport "Question Mark", flying over the Los Angeles Airport. This Fokker is now in the NASM exhibit. In 1936, Major Eaker helped pioneer blind flying techniques as he flew from New York to Los Angeles relying on instruments alone. He became a Brigadier General in 1940.

Captain Eaker was one of ten pilots chosen to make the Pan American Goodwill Flight in 1926. During the flight both members of one crew died in a crash. Eaker and his copilot were the only team to complete the entire 23,000-mile itinerary, which included stops in twenty-three countries. The flight left San Antonio on December 21 and ended at Bolling Field, Washington, D.C., where President Calvin Coolidge presented the pilots with the Distinguished Flying Cross, a new award authorized by Congress just a few months earlier. In 1929 Eaker, with Tooey Spaatz and Elwood R. Quesada (both of whom were later generals), flew a Fokker tri-motor named the Question Mark for 150 hours, 40 minutes, and 15 seconds, shuttling between Los Angeles and San Diego, refueling with a hose lowered from a Douglas C-1. They set an endurance record that endured for many years. In 1930 Eaker flew the first transcontinental flight that depended solely on aerial refueling. Eaker was promoted to major in 1935. Beginning on June 2, 1936, he flew blind under a hood from Mitchel Field, New York, to March Field, Riverside, California. Maj. William E. Kepner (who also became a general) flew alongside in this experiment in instrument flight as a safety observer. He stated that Eaker "was under the hood and flying blind" the entire time except for eight take-offs and landings.


The crew of the Question Mark:
Maj. Spaatz, Capt. Eaker, Lt. Halverson, Lt. Quesado, and MSgt.Hooe.

During the middle to late 1930s Eaker attended the Air Corps Tactical School at Maxwell Field, Alabama, and the Army Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He also served on the Air Staff in Washington. He was promoted to full colonel in December 1941 and to brigadier general in January 1942, when he was assigned to England to form and command the Eighth Bomber Command. He was instrumental in the development and application of daylight precision bombing in the European Theater. This tactic was a major factor in the defeat of the Germans. In December 1942 Eaker became commander of the Eighth Air Force in England. On September 13, 1943, he received promotion to lieutenant general, and on October 15, 1943, he assumed overall command of both American air forces in the United Kingdom, the Eighth and the Ninth. He took over as commander of the joint Mediterranean Allied Air Forces on January 15, 1944. With 321,429 officers and men and 12,598 aircraft, MAAF was the world's largest air force. On March 22, 1945, Eaker was transferred back to Washington to become deputy chief of the army air force under Gen. H. H. Arnold. In that position, representing the air force, he transmitted the command from President Harry Truman to General Spaatz, who was then commanding the Pacific Air Forces, to drop the atomic bomb on Japan. Eaker announced his plans to retire from the army in mid-June 1947, saying that he felt he could do more to provide security for the United States out of uniform.



After retirement he was associated with Hughes Aircraft from 1947 to 1957. In 1957 he became a corporate director of Douglas Aircraft Company, a post he held until 1961, when he returned to Hughes as a consultant, with the freedom to pursue a long-desired goal of being a journalist. He had already coauthored three books with H. H. Arnold: This Flying Game (1936), Winged Warfare (1941), and Army Fliers (1942). In 1964 he began a newspaper column in the San Angelo Standard Times that continued for eighteen years and was syndicated by Copley News Services in 700 newspapers. In 1974 he transferred to the Los Angeles Times Syndicate. He wrote from the point of view of a military man on security matters. Between 1957 and 1981, 329 of his articles appeared in military periodicals. In 1972 he became the founding president of the United States Strategic Institute.



Among his more than fifty decorations were the Congressional Gold Medal, the Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Distinguished Service Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Order of the Partisan Star (First Class), the Silver Star, and the Wright Trophy; he was also made a Knight of the British Empire. He was promoted from lieutenant general to general by an act of Congress in 1985.



Eaker married Leah Chase about 1930; the couple had no children, and the marriage ended in divorce the year it began. On November 23, 1931, he married Ruth Huff Apperson. General Eaker died on August 6, 1987, at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors. He was survived by his wife.

[SAMWolf]

Ira C. Eaker was born in Field Creek, Texas, in 1896. He was appointed a second lieutenant in the Infantry Section, Officer's, Reserve Corps, and assigned to active duty with the 64th Infantry at El Paso, Texas. On Nov. 15, 1917, he was commissioned a second lieutenant of Infantry in the Regular Army.



General Eaker remained with the 64th Infantry at El Paso until March 1918, when he was placed on detached service to receive flying instruction at Austin and Kelly fields in Texas. Upon graduation the following October, he was rated a pilot and assigned to Rockwell Field, California.

In July 1919, he transferred to the Philippine Islands, where he served with the Second Aero Squadron at Fort Mills until September l919; with the Third Aero Squadron at Camp Stotsenburg until September 1920, and as executive officer of the Department Air Office, Department and Assistant Department Air Officer, Philippine Department, and in command of the Philippine Air Depot at Manila until September 1921.

Meanwhile, on July 1, 1920, he transferred from the Infantry to the Air Service and returned to the United States in January 1922, for duty at Mitchel Field, N.Y., where he commanded the Fifth Aero Squadron and later was post adjutant.

In June 1924, the general was named executive assistant in the Office of Air Service at Washington, D.C., and from December 1926, to May 1927, he served as a pilot of one of the planes of the Pan American Flight which made a goodwill trip around South America. He then became executive officer in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of War at Washington, D.C.

In September 1926, he was named operations and line maintenance officer at Bolling Field, Washington, D.C. While on that duty, he participated as chief pilot on the refueling endurance flight of the Army plane, "Question Mark", from Jan. 1 to 7, 1929, establishing a new world flight endurance record. In 1930, he made the first transcontinental flight with in-flight refueling.

In October 1934, General Eaker was ordered to duty at March Field, Calif., where he commanded the 34th Pursuit Squadron and later the 17th Pursuit Squadron. In the summer of 1935, he was detached for duty with the Navy and participated aboard the aircraft carrier, "Lexington", on maneuvers in Hawaii and Guam.

Members of the Pan American flight were Major Herbert A. Dargue, flight leader, Captains Ira Eaker and Arthur B. McDaniel, and Lieutenants Ennis C. Whitehead, Charles Robinson, Muir S. Fairchild, Bernard S. Thompson and Leonard D. Weddington. (The only dark cloud looming over Bolling that day was the absence of Capt. Clinton F. Woolsey and Lt. John W. Benton, who lost their lives over Buenos Aires when their plane collided with Major Dargue's flagship aircraft.) The crew of the San Francisco, Captain Eaker and Lieutenant Fairchild (who would later serve as the first Commandant of Air University), won particular glory for piloting the only plane that completed ever scheduled stop on the 133-day journey.

General Eaker entered the Air Corps Tactical School at Maxwell Field, Alabama, in August 1935, and upon graduation the following June entered the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., from which he graduated in June 1937. He then became assistant chief of the Information Division in the Office of the Chief of Air Corps at Washington, D.C., and in November 1940, assumed command of the 20th Pursuit Group at Hamilton Field, California.

In January 1942, he was assigned to organize the VIII Bomber Command and to understudy the British system of bomber operations; then in December 1942, he assumed command of the Eighth Air Force in England. Later, he became commanding general of all U.S. Army Air Forces in the United Kingdom. In January 1944, he was named air commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces, having under his command the 12th and 15th U.S. Air Forces and the British Desert and Balkan Air Forces.

November 22, 1943
General Johnson, General Devers, General Eaker

On April 30, 1945, General Eaker was named deputy commander of the Army Air Forces and chief of the Air Staff. He retired August 31, 1947, and was promoted to lieutenant general on the retired list June 29, 1948.

General Eaker is a pilot with 12,000 flying hours in 30 years of flying. His military decorations include:

• Air Force Distinguished Service Medal
• Army Distinguished Service Medal with two oak leaf clusters
• Navy Distinguished Service Medal
• Silver Star
• Legion of Merit
• Distinguished Flying Cross with oak leaf cluster
• Air Medal
• World War I and II Victory Medals
• American Defense Service Medal
• American Campaign Medal
• European-African-Middle East Campaign Medal with bronze service stars

General Eaker's foreign decorations include:

• Bolivian Order of Condor of the Andes
• Chilean Order Al Merito, Officer
• Peruvian Order of the Sun of Peru, Officer
• Venezuelan Order of the Liberator, Officer
• Knight of the British Empire
• Brazilian Order of the Southern Cross, Grand Official Order
• Russian Order of Kutusov, Second Degree
• Yugoslavian Partisan Star, First Class
• French Legion of Honor, Grand Officer
• French Croix de Guerre with Palm
• Italian Grand Master of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus
• British Knight Commander of the Bath
• Brazilian Order of Aeronautical Merit
• Polish Military Order of the Gold Cross of Merit with Swords

General Eaker is co-author of "This Flying Game," "Army Flyer," and "Winged Warfare." Since 1962 he has authored a weekly column, carried by more than 35 newspapers, on subjects in the national security area.

On Oct. 10, 1978, the president of the United States, authorized by act of Congress, awarded in the name of the congress, a special Congressional Gold Medal to General Eaker, for contributing immeasurably to the development of aviation and to the security of his country.

[SAMWolf]

IRA EAKER AND THE EAR OF DIONYSIUS

OLD DIONYSIUS often employed an artful device to keep tabs on his kingdom. By listening above an ancient quarry in Sicily, at a convenient orifice where the chasm tapered to a virtual ear trumpet, he could monitor expressions of divergent viewpoints. The informed monarch would then act to defuse criticism or to redirect policy. Of course, he was not an enlightened bureaucrat. A few people were killed. He was just beginning to wield the informational instrument that Stalin perfected centuries later with his diabolical policy against "state wreckers." Nonetheless, the ancient tyrant was onto something of benefit to more benign megaorganizations like the United States Air Force. It is never too late to provide safe channels for the upward flow of informal feedback in an enterprise with lots of people, even if you do not intend to crush those thinkers who will surface from time to time. Their usefulness to the life of a military service is a basic premise of this article that should not require overmuch support. The "ear" and the Eakers are what we are after.


8th Air Force patch

Gen Ira Eaker was remarkable for many reasons. He became a legend by dint of heroic leadership and longevity. Having been honored in recent time with a fourth star that recognized the patriarchal role he had fulfilled since the close of the Second World War, Ira Eaker was a role model for the officer corps. Even in retirement his labors in the realm of communications were legion. Especially in the defense of Air Force roles, missions, and people was the pen of Ira Eaker often the sole focal point for expressing the very vital informal feedback that provides leaders with countervailing viewpoints and permits a clear assessment of whatever potentialities exist within the scope of those challenging views. Percolating up from the ranks were hosts of ideas. General Eaker amplified those worth labeling as concepts. He frequently passed them along in the open press. His was an ear like Dionysius's.

During the halcyon days of Billy Mitchell's fiery ascendancy, Capt Ira Eaker had functioned as an ear for the Chief of the Air Service--Maj Gen Mason Patrick--and for Assistant Chief Mitchell himself while the famous court-martial was in progress. Sitting between the offices of the chief, both and the embattled assistant chief, Eaker and Maj Carl "Tooey" Spaatz were fully tuned in to distracting waves of opinion wafting up from the far-flung officers' clubs and thinly manned airfields and warehouses across the continent.


Part of 1000 ship formation of B-17's. It would take over an hour for the entire bomber stream to pass over

The service was small enough in the twenties and early thirties for a handful of opinion samplers like Spaatz and Eaker to track almost all disparate opinions. And shyness was no hallmark of the aviators who comprised the interwar air arm. Eaker and Spaatz could capture inputs from a Horace Hickam, a Frank Andrews, or a "Hap" Arnold, and the word would quickly get to the highest echelon ungarbled.

But not everyone who is positioned to listen to contending opinion will faithfully retransmit what is gleaned. If a large, modern military organization relies solely on verbal feedback from the troops, it will face the hazard of inevitable distortion manufactured by purveyors of comment who fear self-incrimination. Such is the natural human response once the scale of an organization gets so large that full trust cannot be automatically assured in interpersonal relationships. An impersonal vehicle for carrying viewpoints is needed. And as long as the growing yet fledgling air arm lacked such a vehicle, it paid the bloody price that is the product of bad doctrine. The lesson is that bad doctrine means bad guidance. There is a direct impact of warfighting potential.


COLOGNE 1945 --- Bridges in the Rhine, no tracks in the train yards, no roofs on buildings. Flak barges in the river. Twin spires miraculously remain on cathedral

Maj Gen I. B. Holley, Jr., USAFR, Retired, tells us that immediately after World War I the Army Air Service courted just one fashionable viewpoint despite the expression of several diverging opinions. The combat experience of qualified fliers was not assiduously sought. Instead, the Air Service afflicted itself with a flawed doctrine: "For want of an objective and authoritative method of formulating doctrine on air power, the manifestly inadequate doctrine ... reached publication and consequent circulation while opposing points of view did not." Without an aggressive policy of canvassing and evaluating the variety of thought in the vast marketplace of ideas represented by its own constituency, any service can be caught wearing the blinders of the Army Air Service. Ignoring the combat experiences of the only war in which aircraft had flung mankind's military combatants through the firmament, the spokesmen of the earliest airmen managed to invent a particularly egregious way to start their doctrinal process--administering poison at its birth. What it meant for our forebears was "a doctrine which utilized far less than the maximum potential of aviation."

From that awful doctrinal beginning in 1919, when the observation role was foisted on an inarticulate Air Service, until 1931, when another equally dangerous doctrinal variant was perfected, the air arm had miscarried in every attempt to give birth to a coherent doctrine. In 1975 Col Fred Shiner asked General Eaker for his appreciation of the doctrinal difficulties facing airmen of that decade-plus period. Eaker's estimate in recalling the struggles to tie down ideas of warfighting is captured by his terse comment that Air Corps doctrine "remained fluid."


Another view of the devastation of Cologne. Bombed night and day for four years by the R.A.F and the 8th Air Force, the final blow was struck by army artillery.

Meanwhile, the almost mythical Air Corps Tactical School (started at Langley Field in 1920) had removed in 1931 from Langley to Maxwell with the aim of becoming the primary locus for doctrine development. Until 1928 it had boasted no victories on the mental front. That year, however, saw a surprising turnaround. Maj Gen James E. Fechet, chief of the Air Corps, reversing a potent engine of ideas, boosted the school into the too familiar fatal groove from which it was never rescued. When Fechet's staff reminded the Air Corps Tactical School of the "independent decisiveness of airpower," a headlong drive toward the obsessive idea of bomber invincibility began in earnest. The somber fruit of that flawed doctrine required major and wrenching repairs in the white hot combat of the Combined Bomber Offensive. That tale of bombers and fighters is the one legend Air Force partisans do not need to rehash. In the end, a proud combination of missions made victory in the air possible. That lesson is inculcated in various teachings of air power. It is enshrined as well in US Air Force doctrinal publications. Perhaps, on reflection, the corporate Air Corps had once upon a time located its ears too far from the geography of its brain.

All the interwar fumbling for coherence in terms of doctrine amounted to another fashionable thought train that excluded any competing views. Clearly, there is a danger involved in stifling too completely any opposing thought. How does the US Air Force preclude the hazard of a single-frequency receiver today?



Happily, the free society wherein the Air Force is rooted provides plenty of external criticism. Air Force leaders can pick and choose from whatever wends its way across their desks. And military leaders are sensitive to myriad views expounded in the open press. But how does our modern air arm provide an "ear of Dionysius" to collect vital internal opinions reverberating around the interior of its own collective expertise? Does any such device exist?

For 40 years the device was the Air University Review. Sometimes maligned, sometimes exalted, this professional journal of the Air Force was the focal point for manifold rays of wisdom within blue-suit ranks. It had no challengers within or without the service. Editorial awards rained praises on its authors, artists, and staff. Unlike the Navy with both Proceedings and the Naval War College Review (not counting the Marine Corps Gazette, which enjoys a dynamic reputation within a separate constituency in the same department), and the Army with Parameters and Military Review, the Air Force has no internal competition among journals vying for thoughtful reflections or insightful advocacy’s. The single vehicle for carrying first-class thinking across the global Air Force was the Air University Review.



Having had a solid reputation for years, the Air University Review once enjoyed wide readership. Retirees, civilian scholars, flag officers, and active-duty types of all ranks competed for the limited space available in the bimonthly journal. Despite severe budget cuts and concomitant circulation restrictions, a series of great editors labored in recent years to cull the submissions for gems while rejecting other offerings of excellence. Yes, the Air Force had an "ear of Dionysius," but curious brambles have obscured that only opening available to commentators and readers. A new title (Airpower Journal), tighter quarters, and even tighter thematic approaches; threaten the larger voice of service critique.

What does all this have to do with Air Force doctrine? Well, for years Air Force doctrine briefers from Headquarters USAF/XOXFP (formerly XOXID) have affirmed to audiences the threefold sources of Air Force doctrine:

• Historical experience
• Technology
• Professional insight

Of these three sources, two were solidly the subject matter of the Air University Review. And the technology category, if not so boldly proclaimed, was regularly reflected in discussions arrayed upon the journal's pages.


Clark Gable with 8th USAAF CO, Maj. Gen. Ira Eaker

What other source so admirably combined the available wisdom in a single format? The Air University Review, was famous as a vehicle for ideas. It owned a known constituency. The journal was attractive. The arena for debate by thoughtful contributors was unmatched within the Air Force family. Therefore, any diminution of the carrying capacity of the journal should be resisted. Can anyone promise the recent downward spiral will be stopped?

In the 1920s, when the United Kingdom faced the prospect of budget cuts such as now afflict the American services in these late 1980s, Lord Rutherford offered a somber yet comforting thought: "We've got no money, so we've got to think. "5 One reality of budget-cutting is a perceived threat to luxury. But one would hope the last thing slated for slicing is the arterial conduit through which surges spontaneous thinking to enliven the realm of thoughtful airmen. An Air Force that fails to consider every competent challenge might as well confine itself to two-dimensional warfare. There is simply little hope for a blindered military force. All the dancing on "laughter-silvered wings" will not recoup bad doctrine. And bad doctrine always costs lives in combat. In the end, it can catastrophically break the back of the American effort in battle.

Col Timothy E. Kline

Additional Sources:

www.airpower.maxwell.af.mi
www.nationalaviation.org
www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil
www.time.com
asms.k12.ar.us
www.arlingtoncemetery.net
www.wpafb.af.mi
www.commercemarketplace.com
www.455th.ukpc.net
afmuseum.com
www.44thbombgroup.com
www.alliedairborne.co.uk
www.b17sam.com
www.airforcehistory.hq.af.mil
www.bolling.af.mil

[SAMWolf]

Assigned to flight instruction at Kelly Field in San Antonio, Texas, Ira needed to complete a cross-country, three legged flight from San Antonio, to Beaville, then Honcho and back to Kelly Field. Approaching Beaville the motor quit and Ira landed the plane gently in a rice paddy. A cowboy rode up on his horse and Ira had him telegram the operations officer at Kelly Field. “It turned out that the nearest small town was named West, Texas. So my telegram said, ‘Landed three miles east of West in a rice paddy, please send propeller.’” The reply Ira received was, “Sober up and come home and all will be forgiven.” The operations officer was joking and a propeller and mechanic arrived the next day.

• In 1926, awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his participation in a Pan-American goodwill fight to South America.
• 1929, he was chief pilot of the “Question Mark” which set an in-flight refueling record of 150 hours.
• Was given command of the 8th Air Force in 1942 and was a proponent of precision daylight bombing.
• The “Eaker Plan” for combined bomber offensive commenced in January 1943 with the Americans bombing by day and British by night.
• Took over as commander in chief of Mediterranean Allied Air Forces in 1944.

[SAMWolf]

Veterans for Constitution Restoration is a non-profit, non-partisan educational and grassroots activist organization. The primary area of concern to all VetsCoR members is that our national and local educational systems fall short in teaching students and all American citizens the history and underlying principles on which our Constitutional republic-based system of self-government was founded. VetsCoR members are also very concerned that the Federal government long ago over-stepped its limited authority as clearly specified in the United States Constitution, as well as the Founding Fathers' supporting letters, essays, and other public documents.

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[Jen]

WOW, another air power pioneer thread. GREAT job Sam!!!

[SAMWolf]

HI Jen. Yep and more coming :-) You're up late.

[Jen]

From location of a historic bomb wing to base for flower importer (?!?!?) - sad but true

Eaker AFB, Arkansas

Eaker Air Force Base, now the site of the Arkansas Aeroplex and Arkansas International Airport, has had a long and important history. Activated as an Army airfield on June 10, 1942, the field was used as an advanced flying school in the Southeastern Training Command's pilot training program. It remained a training center until the end of World War II and after the war until its closure in October, 1945, was used to process military members being discharged. The facility was reactivated as Blytheville Air Force Base on July 15, 1955, when the 461st Bombardment Wing moved from Hill Air Force Base in Utah. By April 7, 1956, the base was fully operational with a wing composed of three squadrons of B-57 bombers.

The 4229th Air Base Squadron assumed operational control in April 1958 and remained in charge until July 1, 1959, when the 97th Bombardment Wing took control. Official dedication ceremonies held on January 10, 1960, marked the arrival of the 97th BMW's first B-52G, The City of Blytheville. In addition to the B-52G aircraft, the base was also home to a compliment of KC-135A tankers.

The base was renamed Eaker on May 26, 1988, in honor of General Ira C. Eaker, an air pioneer and first commander of the Mighty Eighth Air Force during World War II.

Official closure of Eaker Air Force Base was announced in 1991, and on March 6, 1992, the last aircraft, The City of Blytheville, left the base. The official closure ceremony was held on December 15, 1992, and the transition from military to civilian, general aviation airport began. The military still makes use of the Arkansas International Airport in flight training maneuvers, and as a landing site to pick up and drop off local National Guard Troops.

Blytheville secured a lease with USA Floral, a major floral distributor based near Washington, D.C., that needed a southern locale for its regular flights to South America to import flowers. USA Floral was expected to create hundreds of jobs in Blytheville.

[SAMWolf]

I suppose it's better than being closed and abandoned, but not by much.

[Jen]

You're up late.

Not really; I'm an owl, ya know. Nothing important to do tomorrow except take Sasso to the vet. And go to the bank and grocery store. And find out what I have to do to get a business license - so I can buy my daughter's bridesmaids' dresses at wholesale. Ummmmm, that's about it. I have such an exciting life! hahahahahahaha

[Jen]

Hey! Maybe after I get my business license, I can get flowers for Missy's wedding wholesale. Gotta check into that. Maybe they'll come from South America to Atlanta via the Arkansas International Airport. I learn such interesting tidbits from your threads Sam! hahahahahahahaha

[SAMWolf]

Another day off!! Must be nice ;-)

[Jen]

Technically, another quarter starts tomorrow. But, my 2 classes are online this quarter so I have a lot of flexibility. My teachers don't care if I do my work at 3 a.m. or 3 p.m. - which is good for me!

[SAMWolf]

Not a bad deal. I have to get some sleep. This is it for me tonight. Have fun.

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning everyone!
Snippy, you had your StarBucks yet???

[Jen]

Goodnight Sam! Guess it's time for me to go to bed too! See ya tomorrow after noon.

[Jen]

Hello Ms. Feather. Are you just waking up? I'm going to bed now. See y'all in the Foxhole later. Jen

[snippy_about_it]

FALL IN to the FReeper Foxhole!



Good Monday Morning Everyone

If you would like added to our ping list let us know.

[Aeronaut]

Good morning Snippy.

[WhiskeyPapa]

On September 13, 1943, he received promotion to lieutenant general, and on October 15, 1943, he assumed overall command of both American air forces in the United Kingdom, the Eighth and the Ninth. He took over as commander of the joint Mediterranean Allied Air Forces on January 15, 1944.

Eaker fought this move bitterly. He was basically relieved of command of the 8th AF.

This came right at the time when the P-51B Mustang was becoming available. The first flight of the P51B prototype was on November 30 1942, but it wasn't pushed. The first Mustangs arrived in England 11 months later, just as the 8th was losing 148 B-17's in one week. But Eaker did little to hasten its arrival or to work hard for the improvement of the P-38 (engine problems) or P-47 (short range). In fact, Eaker was going to shuttle the new Mustang groups in the ground support force -- the 9th AF. He thought the "self-defending bomber" could still work even after months of the 8th being savagely mauled by the Germans.

He was replaced by General Doolittle, who did a great job.

One of the great blunders of WWII was not getting fighter escorts for the B-17's much earlier. It was shown that even a few dozen escorts could disrupt the German attacks, but Eaker did little to provide them.

Walt