To Command the Sky: The Battle for Air Superiority Over Germany, 1942-1944

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many people contribute in essential ways to books besides authors. The authors of this book are especially indebted to a number of persons. Personnel of that great repository of material for the history of air power, the U.S. Air Force Historical Research Center, Maxwell Air Force Base, eased the way with services and valuable advice. They include: Mr. Lloyd Cornett, Jr., former director; Col. Elliott V. Converse, III, USAF, current director; Dr. Richard E. Morse, chief of Historical Reference Division; his deputy chief, Mrs. Lynn O. Gamma; Capt. George W. Cully, USAF, chief of Queries Division; staff historians Mr. Harry R. Fletcher, Dr. Daniel L. Haulman, Capt. David C. Johnson, USAF, Dr. Robert M. Johnson, II, and Dr. James H. Kitchens, III; archivists Mr. Presley Bickerstaff , M. Sgt. Gary C. McDaniel, USAFR, Dr. Timothy D. Johnson, and S. Sgt. Samuel Sheain, USAF; archives assistants Mrs. Nora Bledsole, Ms. Margaret C. Claiborn, and Ms. Essie Roberts; archives technician Ms. Sara Frances Rawlings; and archives specialist S. Sgt. Ed Gaines. Others at Maxwell who assisted us were Dr. Richard Marcus, visiting from the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire; Dr. Robert F. Futrell, Dr. David MacIsaac, and Dr. Earl Tilford of the Center for Aerospace Doctrine, Research, and Educaxi xii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS tion; Lt. Col. David L. McFarland, USAF (ret.), Air Command and Staff College Foundation; and Mr. Richard Lane, chief of the Air University Library, and his staff. The archivists, librarians, and staffs of the National Archives, Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress, and the Smithsonian 's Air and Space Museum also provided valuable and often essential assistance. We are grateful to Fritz Ungar, Mary Gill Rice, Starr Smith, Edmond Zellner, Luther H. Richmond, William R. Lawley, Jr., Clyde W. Bradley, Jr., Gerhard H. Kroll, Gunther RaIl, James H. Doolittle, and Robert L. Salzarulo, for their letters and oral interviews . Dr. John Wood of James Madison University, whose brother flew a fighter with the Eighth Air Force, and Col. Starr Smith, USAFR (ret.), an intelligence officer with a Liberator group of the Eighth, were instrumental in putting us in touch with American fighter and bomber veterans of the Big Week and Berlin air battles described in this book. Dr. Jim Kitchens of the U.S. Air Force Historical Research Center performed the same service with respect to German veterans of these battles and aided the authors in many other ways deserving of special recognition. Dr. Kenneth P. Werrell of Bradford University and Dr. Lee Kennett of the University of Georgia offered encouragement when it was needed. Dr. Richard Kohn, then chief of the Office of Air Force History, and Dr. Richard Greene Davis of his staff gave us material assistance. The same is true of Col. Capers A. Holmes, USAFR (ret.), who was a navigator with a B-24 group; and Mr. Raymond Toliver and Mr. James Crow, who shared their photographic collections with us. The Auburn University Humanities Fund provided needed financial assistance in the early going and the Historical Research Center funded some of the research. Dr. Gordon C. Bond, head of the department of history at Auburn University, offered departmental resources and facilities. Besides their families, the authors are most beholden to their Acknowledgments xiii colleagues, whose work on the history of flight has made Auburn University the academic center for this scholarly specialty: Professors William F. Trimble, Donathon C. Olliff, James R. Hansen, W. David Lewis, and Robert R. Rea. The authors are also grateful to Felix Lowe, whose vision for scholarship in the history of flight continues to enhance the stature of the Smithsonian Institution Press, and this book's editor, Therese D. Boyd, who has helped turn it into a more polished work. .-.... 45 Map of Europe showing distances to German targets from Eighth Air Force Headquarters at High Wycombe. ...