Battle Colors Volume 3 (Insignia and Tactical Markings of the Ninth Air Force in World War II)

168 Pages·2008·33.3 MB·English

by  Robert A. Watkins

III
VOLUME
INSIGNIA AND TACTICAL MARKINGS
OF THE NINTH AIR FORCE
IN WORLD WAR Two
A.
ROBERT WATKINS
THE ORPHAN AIR FORCE OF THE ETO
Insignia And Aircraft Markings Of
The Ninth Air Force In World War II
Volume III
Robert A. Watkins
RESPECTFUllY DEDICATED TO All THOSE WHO SERVED
WITH THE NINTH U.S. ARMY AIR FORCE
DURING WORLD WAR II
Book Design & Illustrations by RobertA. WatlGns
Copyright©2008 by RobertA. Watkins.
Library ofCongressControl Number: 2007936610
All rights reserved. No part ofthis work may be reproduced or used in any forms or by
any means - graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or information
storageand retrieval systems- without written permissionfrom the copyrightholder.
Printed in China.
ISBN: 978-0-7643-2938-8
Weare interested in hearingfrom authors with book ideason related topics.
PublishedbySchiFFerPublishingLtd. In Europe,SchiFFerbooksaredistributedby:
4880LowerValleyRoad BushwoodBooks
Atglen,PA 19310 6MarksburyAvenue
Phone:[phone] KewGardens
FAX:[phone] SurreyTW94JF
E-mail:[email protected]. England
Visitourwebsiteat: www.schiFferbooks.com Phone:[phone]
PleasewriteForaFreecatalog. FAX:[phone]
ThisbookmaybepurchasedFromthepublisher. E-mail: [email protected].
Pleaseinclude$3.95 postage. FreepostageintheUK. Europe:airmaiIatcost.
Tryyourbookstorefirst. Tryyourbookstorefirst.
Contents
Introduction 6
Historical Overview 7
Fighter Units 14
Troop Transport Units 60
Bombardment Units 94
Liaison Units 120
Reconnaissance Units 126
USAAF Markings : 139
USAAF Colors 147
USAAF Stations Map 148
Ninth AAF Organizational Charts 149
Closing Argument 154
Abbreviations 158
Operations Codes 159
Index 160
Bibliography 166
Acknowledgments 166
Closing Tribute 167
Owners Manual: Ongoing Research:
There is really nothing complicat Those readers familiar with the first
ed about the use of this work, there two books in this series are aware
are however a few items within that of my acknowledgement that both of
may perhaps warrant a these works represent a
wee bit ofelaboration. work-in-progress, and
Dates: All dates contained the same is true in the
herein have been ex case of this, my latest
pressed in a military for effort. In fact, due to the
mat, i.e. day/month/year. neglect with which the
Astheserelatetounitpost Ninth Army Air Force
ings and command transi has been subjected
tions, they indicate 'time since the conclusion of
in' only, the duration ofan World War II, my ef
assignment can be easily forts in cataloging both
determined by addressing the combat insignia and
the next succeeding appli tactical markings ofthis
cable date. When no additional data is available this organization have been considerably more difficult
simply indicates thatthe tenureofagivenassignment than onemightimagine, especially given the fact that
carried through to the official end ofhostilities in the the Ninth AAF was the largest tactical aerial armada
European Theatre ofOperations, this being V-E Day, ever assembled. Itis a constant source ofamazement
8-May-45. that it is often easier to obtain certain types of docu
Maps: Wherever possible station assignments have mentation relating to much smallerUSAAFs in more
been depicted in chronological order. This order has remote theatres ofoperation during the course ofthe
been established by reading each station copy block war..
counter-clockwise, beginning at the top left corner of My primary concern is with the unofficial images
any respective map. These copy blocks correspond to that were so common during this period. Even with
the accompanying text listings found on each page. the advent of the Army's Heraldic Section, many
My apologies in advance to readers in both Holland units continued to display images and markings that
and Belgium for any awkwardness that may exist in had not gone through the official approval process.
listing the respective station province locations. Un This was especially true once hostilities broke out
fortunately, to date I have not had the opportunity to and many of the AAF combat units were dispersed
spend the time in either ofthese two countries that I throughout the globe. Before this historical imagery
would have liked. My knowledge of these lands has is hopelessly scattered,Ihopetocollectandcatalogue
been confined primarily to written research, a situa as much as possible concerning unitinsignia and tac
tion that I hope to remedy in the nearfuture. tical markings ofall combatunits oftheAAF. In this
Text: Some readers may wonder why the phrase 'No ongoing attempt to chronicle data as it relates to the
Known Insignia' is used repeatedly throughout this original U.S. Army Air Service of 1918 through the
work instead ofsimply using the word 'None' in ref transition to the current U.S. Air Force on Septem
erence to missing insignia.Although many unauthor ber 18th, 1947, I continue to encourage those readers
ized insignia may not currently be known to me, this who have in their possession any data relating to this
in no way negates their possible existence. The same subject to contact me at the address below.
is true ofsquadroncolors, codes, etc. Useofthe word R0bertA. Watkins
'None' implies that there is nothing more to be said 8462 Road 41
ona given issue and this is simply not the case where Mancos, Colorado
this particular subjectis concerned. 81328-8945
USA
6
The Ninth Army Air Force has, for some reason, The 1st Provisional Group was shortly joined by
been sadly neglectedin somany.,ofthepostwarhisto the 57th FtrGrp, 12th Bomb Group (M) and the 98th
ries anddocumentariesin comparison to theexposure Bomb Group (H). Also joining this assemblage were
giventheEighthAirForce.Thisinspiteofthefactthat numerous C-47 Skytrain twin engine transports, all
for much ofWorld WarII these two mighty air arma of which began combat operations against Rommels
das fought sideby sidein the sameskies overwestern Afrika Korps. Sortieingfrom airfields located in both
Europe until final victory had been achieved. Palestine and Egypt, this unit assisted the British 8th
This neglect may be in part due to the fact that the Army in the Allied defeat ofAxis forces at the Sec
NinthAF was notcreated among muchpomp andcir ond Battle ofElAlamein in November 1942.
cumstance, butrather evolved somewhat slowly over It was during this period that USAMEAF was offi
a period oftime in a much more obscure theater than cially deactivated (l2-Nov-42) and all ofthat organi
the one it ultimately ended up spending most of the zations components transferred to the newly created
war.Whereas theMightyEighth began itscombatop Ninth U.S. Army Air Force. Many more additional
erations in themosthighly publicizedareaofthecon units had been assigned to the newly formed Ninth
fEct, the war in western Europe, the Ninth USAAF and the overall command structure at that time was
had its beginnings in the Middle East, and under an as follows: IX Bomber Command consisting of
entirely different and obscure unit designation. the 12th Bomb Group (M), 98th Bomb Group (H),
What would eventually become the largest 340th Bomb Group (M), along with the
tactical airforce the worldhadeverseen actu 376th Bomb Group (H), the latter having
ally came into existence under the code name been created from the original 1st Provi
HALPRO and theentireinventory ofthis new sional Group. IXFighterCommand: com
unitconsistedoftwenty-threeB-24D Liberator prised of the 57th Ftr Group, 79th Ftr Grp,
heavy bombers recently transferred from the and the 324th Ftr Grp. Also assigned to the
Tenth U.S. Army Air Force based in India. Ninth at this time was the 316thTroop Car
The HALPRO rier Group. (Both the
mission of 12-Jun-42 12th Bombardment
was the first official and the 57th Fighter
USAAF combat oper Groups were on de
atio]} within the Medi tached duty with the
Italy
terranean area and the RAF during this time
first in what would period.)
become many attacks Beginning in Au
Sicily
onthestratigicoilfields gust 1943 units with
at Ploesti, Rumania. in the NinthAAF be
On 17-June-42, less gan to be transferred
than one week fol to the Twelfth AAF
lowing this raid, the and with a stroke of
HALPRO contingent the pen the Ninth
was combined with officially ceased to
an initial detachment exist within the
of B-17D's from the MediterraneanTheater
7th BombGroup (H) ofAllahabad, India. This assort while magically being recreated thousands of miles
ment ofbombers would form the nucleus ofthe new away in southwestern England, and all on the same
U.S. Army Air ForcesintheMiddleEast(USAMEAF) day, 16-0ct-43. For the Ninth AAF, heavy bombers
and designated the 1st Provisional Group / USAAF, were now a thing ofthe past as the new focus was
which would continue operations from Cairo, Egypt. tobeonthetacticalaspectofthewarinwesternEurope.
7
'fUE f,AI] 'fJ~ET ft. 8'fEEJ~
Obtaining and maintaining control ofthe air over
Western Europe did not come easily. Even with the
decline ofthe Luftwaffe's ability to effectively coun
ter the Allies aerial intrusions over German occupied
territory, opposition from the ground was both intense
anddeadly. FieldMarshallErwinRommel the 'Desert
Fox' perhaps best summed up Germanys dilemma:
"Anyonewhofights, evenwiththemostmodernweap
ons, against an enemy who dominates the air,
is like aprimitive warriorwho stands against
modernforces, with the same limitations and
the same chance ofsuccess". The Wermacht
High Command knew this and in spite ofsee
ing their Luftwaffe increasingly decimated,
took the.only remaining option open to them.
As their own air force was being swept from
the skies, a desperate effort was undertaken
on the ground in an attempt to keep the mas r
sive Allied air armadas at bay.
By 1944 German anti-aircraft defences had reached
an all time high and consisted of over 10,600 heavy
AA guns as compared to 3,164 in 1940. During this
same period production and deployment oflightAA
guns rosefrom 8,290to 19,360whiletheuseofaerial
searchlights went from 3,450 to 7,500. Addi
tionally the Luftwaffe utilized radar directed
fire control over their most sensitive target
areas. Some of the more formidable of these
were located in the feared Flak Towers built
specificallytocombattheAlliedairincursions.
These were massive bomb proof structures,
someoversix storieshigh, with weapons rang
ingfrom single, dual and quad mounted 20mm
AA guns, the deadly effective 88mm cannon
to the incredibly powerful 128mm Flak Guns.
During the latter phase of the European air
war, ground fire from German AAbatteries ac
counted for the vast majority ofallied aircraft and air
crew losses.
All ofthis effort on the part of the Wermacht was
never intended as a replacement for their own se
verely diminished loss of aerial defences. Time was
what the German high command were hoping to gain
through these efforts, time to rebuild the Luftwaffe
with an inventory comprised of state-of-the-art air
craftlike thejetpoweredMe262, andequally impor
tant, time to train the pilots tofly theseaircraft. Itwas
an act of desperation that was to prove fruitless.
8
NT E A E
From its humble beginnings at the eastern end of
the Mediterranean Ocean the Ninth U.S. Army Air
Force ultimately grew to become the greatest
tactical air armada the world had ever seen.
From its inception the Ninth was charged with
accomplishing three very basic combatprinciples:
1.) Gain airsuperiority.
2.) Deny the enemy the ability to replenish or
resupply losses.
3.) Offer allied ground forces close support.
The Ninth was to become master of all three.
Of all this units accomplishments throughout
he conflict, the Normandy Invasion serves
~&iIJas a high-water mark achievement. Working
closely with their British counterparts, the
AF's Second Tactical Air Force, the German
warmachine on the western front was success-
"
~~]fully kept off balance during the D-Day land
ings thusensuring afirm Alliedfoothold on the
European Continent, but the
cost was high. The Norman
dy Air Campaign officially
lasted from June 6th thruAu
gust 28th 1944 and resulted
in a total of 4,101 Allied
aircraft lost, 1,637 of which
were medium bombers and
fighters. Over 389,400 sor
ties were flown during this campaign at a cost of
16,674 allied airmen. As horrific as these losses
were however, they paled in comparison to the ca
sualties inflicted upon the enemies forces, and the
way had been paved for ultimate victory in the
European Theater.
Neither the U.S. Ninth nor the British Second
Tactical Air Forces would be afforded any respite
at the conclusion of this campaign. In fact those
engaged in the daily combat operations mos~ likely
wouldn't have been able to tell you the difference
betweenAugust28 and the 29th, itwas all 'business
as usual'. Operating from often hastily constructed
Advanced Landing Grounds (ALG) the men of
both the Ninth and SecondAir Forces continued
conducted daily flight operations against the
enemy until wars end.
9
(JSllill~ IlllllI{IN(,S
'I'III~ 1~'T(nJJ'I'IONOlf IJ.S. Nl\'1'IONll" lUIU~1l1llf'l' INSU,NIll
Circa 1916: The first national identification markings applied
to U.S. aircraft appeared at the North Island Aviation School,
California. Neither design was ever officially adopted by the
Army Signal Corps. These applications appeared on the tail
section only with no otherimages being applied to the surface
areaofthe wings, top orbottom, northefuselage.
May17,1917:Thesetwo imagesrepresentthefirstauthorized
,
combination of national recognition insignia on U.S. military
aircraft. During this period there were no standards in place
regulating color uniformity, and as a result many applications
varied from one aircraft to another and tended to be governed
solelyby those colorshadescurrently on hand.
January 11, 1918: For reasons that may have been as much
political as practical 'star-and-circle' insigniawas replace with
the cokade pattern depicted at left. This modification however
affectedonly thoseAEFaircraftservingon theWestern Front.
The tail color configuration was itself modified from reading
red-white-blue, rightto left, to blue-white-red.
At the time ofthis writing no documentation has been lo
cated to explain the logic behind these changes, but theArmy
officiallydropped thiscombinationandrevertedtotheoriginal
1917configurationon all its aircraftinMayof1919.
Circa1924-1927:The 'U.S.Army'designatorwasadoptedfor
under-wing surfaceapplication on all ArmyAirCorps aircraft
in 1924. The alternating pattern of horizontal red and white
tail stripes came into existencethree years later. Both ofthese
adaptations were to disappear permanently from all Army Air
Force warplanes in the wake ofPearl Harbor.
•
10
Forawhileitlookedas iftheArmy hadfound apermanentsolu aircraftinsignia, it was determined that additional research was
tion regarding aircraftidentification,Than realitycameinto play in needed. On June 18th 1943, a series of tests were held under au
theform ofWorld WarIIand complicatedtheissueoncemore. thority oftheArmy/NavyAeronauticalBoard tofurther study this
The first problem with the existing No.24102-K pattern came problem.
from the Pacific. Friendly fire incidences were far to frequent and Aselection ofboth Allied and Axis national markings were ap
one reason for this was allegedly due to the existing U.S. aircraft pliedto theU.S. aircraft, principaUytheP-47Thunderbolt.Aseries
marking. Itwas reportedthatthefirst thinsAlliedanti-aircraftgun of 'fly-by' runs were conducted at varying altitudes and distances
ners reacted to when observing USAAFaircraft was the red circle toestablishtheoptimumimageforrecognitionofU.S. aircraft.The
in thecenterofthe24102-K insignia,withpredictableandoftendi overall favorite was a new design recently added to the mix which
sastrousresultsforU.S. pilotsandflightcrews.Anattempttoreme includedasetofhorizontal whitebarsoneachsideofthecircleand
dy this problemresultedin theissuanceofAmendmentNo.3 which starconfiguration.Theentiredesign wasoriginallyenclosedwith a
ordered the immediate removal ofthe red circular device from aU redoutlinebutthis wassoonconvertedtothe nowfamiliarInsignia
U.S. aircraftdeployedoutsidethe ContinentalUnitedStates.While Bluecontourline which, exceptfor the addition ofared horizontal
this movesolved oneproblem regarding recognition ofAmerican bar,remains in useby todaysUnited StatesAirForce.
The images depicted below will serve to illustrate the modifica
tions to U.S. military aircraft identification insignia between 20
Jul-4l and 14-Aug-43 with respective approval dates as indicated.
The utilization ofan Identification Yellow outer ring was ordered
by Allied Force Headquarters. While used extensively during the
North African campaign, it was employed only briefly in the UK.
•HJI,Y 20 ~Ii\Y 211 oel'omm 1 .J1JNII 21) 1UI(WS'l' 1'•
1!)Ll2 11)42 11)42 11)43 11)'.:1
')'YI)II-1 ')'YI)II-21l ')'Yl)II-2U ')'Yl)II-3A 'I'YI)II-:m
- Diameter= '0' ---1-"'------11/2'0'
1/8'0'
~
T .......
1/4'0'
The final war time design selected by the Army/Navy Aeronauti
cal Board utilized only two colors; Insignia Blue and Insignia
White. The specific ANA color codes changed constantly and are
not addressed within the confines ofthis text. Readers wishing to
pursuethesubjectofU.S. militaryinsigniacolorsinfinitedetailare
encouragedtoconsultthebibliographyforadditionalsubjectsources.
11