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Chester Rumbold served
with the 8th AAF during WWII. He
served with the 392nd Bomb Group in
England. He was a Bombsight
Mechanic.
Below is a brief history of the Mighty
8th during WWII.
During World War
II, Eighth Air Force earned a reputation
as a great war-fighting organization. The
U.S. Army Air Forces activated the 8th
at Savannah, Georgia, on 28 January
1942.
The modern day Eighth Air Force traces
its lineage to the VIII BC, which was
created on February 1,1942 at Langley
Field, Virginia. About February 23rd,
the VIII BC moved to England, where it
established its wartime headquarters in
High Wycombe in the Wycombe Abbey school
for girls. On February 22, 1944, the
Army reorganized its Air Forces in
Europe by renaming Eighth Air Force as
the United States Strategic Air Forces
in Europe (now known as the United
States Air Forces in Europe). That same
day, the VIII BC became Eighth Air
Force.
During World War II, under the
leadership of such generals as Ira Eaker
and Jimmy Doolittle, the Eighth Air
Force formed the greatest air armada in
history. By mid-1944, the unit had a
total strength of more than 200,000
people, and it could send more than
2,000 four-engine bombers and 1,000
fighters on a single mission against
enemy targets in Europe. For this
reason, Eighth Air Force is commonly
known as the "Mighty Eighth."
From May 1942 to July 1945, the Eighth
planned and precisely executed America's
daylight strategic bombing campaign
against Nazi-occupied Europe. The Eighth
suffered about half of the U.S. Army Air
Force's casualties (47,483 out of
115,332), including more than 26,000
dead. The Eighth's brave men earned 17
Medals of Honor, 220 Distinguished
Service Crosses, and 442,000 Air Medals.
The Eighth's combat record also shows
566 aces (261 fighter pilots with 31
having 15 or more victories and 305
enlisted gunners), over 440,000 bomber
sorties to drop 697,000 tons of bombs,
and over 5,100 aircraft losses and
11,200 aerial victories.
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