page_title: Henry H. Arnold
section_title: Strategic bombing in Europe
hierarchical_section_title: Henry H. Arnold / World War II / Strategic bombing in Europe
caption_attribution_description: English: U.S. Army Air Force Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress bombers of the 381st Training Group from RAF Ridgewell, en route to a target over Nazi-occupied Europe. The aircraft marked "VE" belong to the 532nd Bomb Squadron, the ones marked "MS" to the 535th BS. In front is B-17G-20-BO 42-31443 ("Friday the 13th"). This aircraft was shot down by German fighters on mission to Oschersleben on 22 February 1944. The plane was shot down by fighters near Munster in Germany on 22 February 1944 and crashed near Bielefeld. , four of the crew became POWs, six were killed (MACR 2930). Nederlands: U.S.A.F Boeing B-17G Vliegende forten van het 381st Bomb Group, vertrokken van Ridgewell Airfield, Essex (UK), onderweg naar een doel in bezet Europa. De bommenwerper gemarkeerd met VE behoort tot het 532nd Bomb Squadron, degeen gemarkeerd net MS tot het 535th BS. Op de voorgrond is de B-17G-20-BO 42-31443 (Vrijdag de dertiende). Deze bommenwerper werd door Duitse jagers op missie naar Ochserleben op 22 februari 1944 neergeschoten in Bielefeld in de buurt van Munster in Duitsland, vier bemanningsleden werden krijgsgevangen gemaakt, zes werden gedood (MACR 2930).
context_page_description: Henry Harley Arnold was an American general officer holding the ranks of General of the Army and General of the Air Force. Arnold was an aviation pioneer, Chief of the Air Corps, Commanding General of the U.S. Army Air Forces, the only U.S. Air Force general to hold five-star rank, and the only officer to hold a five-star rank in two different U.S. military services. Arnold was also the founder of Project RAND, which evolved into one of the world's largest non-profit global policy think tanks, the RAND Corporation, and one of the founders of Pan American World Airways.
  Instructed in flying by the Wright Brothers, Arnold was one of the first military pilots worldwide, and one of the first three rated pilots in the history of the United States Air Force. He overcame a fear of flying that resulted from his experiences with early flight, supervised the expansion of the Air Service during World War I, and became a protégé of General Billy Mitchell.
context_section_description: Immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor Arnold began to carry out AWPD/1. The primary strategic bombing force against Nazi Germany would be the Eighth Air Force, and he named Spaatz to command it and Eaker to head its Bomber Command. Other Arnold protégés eventually filled key positions in the strategic bombing forces, including Haywood S. Hansell, Laurence S. Kuter, and James H. Doolittle.
  Despite protecting his strategic bombing force from demands of other services and allies, Arnold was forced to divert resources from the Eighth to support operations in North Africa, crippling the Eighth in its infancy and nearly killing it. Eaker (now Eighth Air Force commander) found from experience that the pre-war doctrine of daylight precision bombing, developed at the Air Corps Tactical School as a foundation for separating the Air Force from the Army, was mistaken in its tenet that heavily armed bombers could reach any target without the support of long-range escort fighters. Early in 1943 he began requesting more fighters and jettisonable fuel tanks to increase their range, in addition to repeated requests to increase the size of his small bombing force.
  Heavy losses in the summer and fall of 1943 on deep penetration missions intensified Eaker's requests. Arnold, under pressure and impatient for results, ignored Eaker's findings and placed the blame on a lack of aggressiveness by bomber commanders. This came at a time when General Dwight D. Eisenhower was putting together his command group for the invasion of Europe, and Arnold approved Eisenhower's request to replace Eaker with his own commanders, Spaatz and Doolittle. Ironically, the very items Eaker requested—a larger bomber force, drop tanks, and P-51 fighters—accompanied the change of command and made the Eighth Air Force decisive in defeating Germany using the daylight bombing doctrine.
  The change in command at Eighth Air Force, particularly involving the relief of a friend or protégé, was just one of many that exemplified a ruthlessness Arnold developed to get results. In 1942, Brigadier General Walter R. Weaver, acting chief of the Air Corps, had his job eliminated and was relegated to a technical training command. George C. Kenney relieved Jacob E. Fickel in command of Fourth Air Force and later that same year replaced former Chief of the Air Corps George H. Brett as Southwest Pacific air commander. In the B-29 campaign, Curtis E. LeMay relieved Kenneth B. Wolfe in India in July 1944, and later Hansell on Guam in January 1945.
caption: B-17 Flying Fortresses of the 381st Bomb Group, Eighth Air Force.
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