User talk:Karl Dickman/Archive 11

the 97 BG was not the first American B-17 unit in the EAME. I post the correct 1st Provisional Bg to the article along with many other corrections only to have them removed and locked. Ditto the B-24 & B-25. I am among the top one or two living experts on the development of these three bomber models and have made many significant contribution to books, archives, museums and websites. my facebook name is Flip Marchese. please contact me. I am eager to correct the many errors in all the articles. beside FB PM I am at [email protected] Philip C Marchese National Defense University '97

Middle East operationsEdit

On June 1942, the German Afrika Korps advance in North Africaforced the British Eighth Army to retreat towards Egypt putting British Middle East Command at risk. The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) had already planned for a buildup of American air power in the Middle East in January 1942 in response to a request from the British Chief of the Air Staff.[3]In anticipation of the arrival of the American air groups, the War Department sent Maj. Gen. Lewis H. Brereton, commander of Tenth Air Force in India, to Cairo for temporary duty to assist the British. His orders instructed him to take as many planes as he could from India to Egypt. On 29 June 1942, combat crews and ground men from the 9th Bomb Squadron departed from India for the Middle East for duty in that theater, to repulse the Nazis then attempting an offensive against the new invasion forces of the U.S. When these forces arrived from India, the U.S. Army Middle East Air Force (USAMEAF) was established and Brereton was named its commander.[3]USAMEAF bomber forces consisted of nine B-17Es and nineteen B-24 Liberators formerly of the 9th Bombardment and 88th Reconnaissance Squadrons, 7th Bombardment Group. They would be organized into the 1st Provisional Bombardment Group on 20 July. It was the core of what would eventually become the 376th Bombardment Group, Ninth Air Force, which was transferred to RAF Abu Sueir, Egypt on 12 November.[3]B-17s would be flown on combat missions from RAF Lyddia and RAF El Fayid, Egypt, attacking the harbor at Tobruk, Libya seven times with day and night raids throughout July, continually raiding the harbor shipping and disrupting Axis storage areas. It is believed that the Fortresses were sent to the secret Gura Army Air Base, Eritrea (Project 19) in August for depot-level maintenance, which was not possible at the British bases and had which been deferred since the beginning of the war in December.[3]The B-17Es would not engaged in combat again until mid-October, when raids on Tobruk began again on 12 October, and attacking a coastal road near Bardia, Libya on 20 October after a mission against Tobruk was cancelled due to cloud cover. They were also engaged in attacking harbor facilities and Axis naval targets on Crete andBenghazi, Libya through which Afrika Korps supplies were landed. The B-17s made a final raid against installations at Sousse, Tunisiabefore being taken out of front-line service with the arrival of newer B-24 and B-25 units from the United States.[3] — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:1002:B011:2AB9:413D:E6FB:238E:3594 (talk) 12:42, 12 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]