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VIII Bomber Command

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The VIII Bomber Command is an inactive United States Army Air Forces unit that is better known as the later appellation Eighth Air Force, as was popularized in post-World War II filmsand is frequently called the First Eighth Air Force by its veterans and successors in the services.[citation needed]

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Strategic Bombardment

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United States

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World War II era emblem of Eighth Air Force

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--01-19

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VIII Bomber Command

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Major General Ira C. Eaker

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The VIII Bomber Command is an inactive United States Army Air Forces unit that is better known as the later appellation Eighth Air Force, as was popularized in post-World War II filmsand is frequently called the First Eighth Air Force by its veterans and successors in the services.[citation needed] The command was the first strategic bombing organisation sent to England as the United States Armed Forces joined the war against the axis powers in early 1942. The Army Air Forces were the earliest forces that could be arrayed by the United States to directly attack the fascist regimes attempting land grabs as imperial powers. Its last assignment was being renamed as the Eighth Air Force, and throughout the war it was stationed at High Wycombe, England. The designation 8th Bomber Command was inactivated on 22 February 1944. VIII Bomber Command was the heavy bombardment arm of Eighth Air Forcewhich also came to include a large intelligence, photo interpretation, and mission planning staff in the early days of the strategic bombing campaign against Nazi Germany and Nazi-controlled Occupied Europe. Its primary mission was to attack and destroy strategic targets to cripple the Nazi industrial base in Northern Europe which supported their armed forces. With the advent of the invasion of Fortress Europe, a controversy developed between continuing that effort, or switching to bombing transportation networks leading into western France from the German frontier. The command was inactivated and its units redesignated as Eighth Air Force as a result of a reorganization of the Army Air Forces in the European and Mediterranean theaters. Its subsequent unit became one of the initial two Numbered Air Forces of Strategic Air Command in 1946, and in 1992 became a major component of the United States Air Force Air Combat Command.