. In addition, German airfields in France and Belgium were attacked. With the loss of two American crews, this first mission from England by the AAF foreshadowed the challenges faced during the war. Originally, the U.S. Army Air Forces activated the Eighth at Savannah, Georgia, on 28 January 1942 with three major subordinate units: the VIII Bomber Command (BC), the VIII Fighter Command (FC), and the VIII Ground Air Services Command (GASC). The United States Eighth Air Force deployed to England with a daunting mission: destroy Germanys ability to wage war, and gain command of the European skies to pave the way for an Allied land invasion. clearTimeout(debounceTimer); Units assigned to Eighth Air Force in the Pacific were: The atomic bombings of Japan led to the Japanese surrender before Eighth Air Force saw action in the Pacific theater. These Veterans, born in the 1920s and before, were members of the greatest air armada of all time. The Eighth's units played a key role in the 42-day Gulf War in 1991. October 1943 yielded the heaviest casualties sustained up to that point in the air campaign. Seventeen Medals of Honor went to Eighth Air Force personnel during the war. In November 1942, German fighter ace Egon Mayer found the weakest place on a B-17directly in the front of the aircraft. Beginning on October 8 and continuing until October 14, Eighth Air Force crews attacked targets all over Germany in an attempt to continue the pressure on the Germans. The 8th lost 31 bombers, the 15th lost 33. It was a last-ditch effort to keep up the momentum of the German forces during the stagnant stage of the Battle of the Bulge (Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein). 'Air Force Combat Units of World War II' compiled by the Department of the US Air Force, edited by Maurice Maurer (1983 . The right propeller of Kegelman's Boston was shot away by flak while over the target at De Kooy Airfield[7][self-published source?] Originally, the U.S. Army Air Forces activated the Eighth at Savannah, Georgia, on 28 January 1942 with three major subordinate units: the VIII Bomber Command (BC), the VIII Fighter Command (FC), and the VIII Ground Air Services Command (GASC). VIII Bomber Command | Military Wiki | Fandom