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The Eighth's first stage was purely experimental, to test the U.S. theory that daylight raids, despite British and German experiences to the contrary, could be made with profit. The pinpoint precision of Eighth Air Force raids on U-boat bases and factories in the occupied countries proved the theory. But before it could be fully developed, 90% of the Eighth's strength was sent to the North African theater, and Eaker was again virtually without planes.
At the Casablanca conference last January the fate of daylight precision bombing hung in the balance. But when the Eighth's record was presented, the Allied Combined Chiefs of Staff were convinced of its effectiveness. By April the R.A.F. and the Eighth had worked out plans for their new joint operation. By May the second stage could begin.
New planes were pouring in to the Eighth. In the next months its strength doubled, then tripled. As it grew, its pro gram meshed still more closely with that of the R.A.F. Operations of the two forces were completely coordinated. The Eighth celebrated the end of its first year of operations. Its heavy bombers had flown 82 missions, dropped 15,722 tons of bombs, destroyed 1,782 enemy aircraft, lost 419 themselves. They had contributed materially to the crippling of the German U-boat weapon. They had knocked out 20% of Germany's synthetic rubber production at Hüls. They had hit destructively the sources of most of her airplane-tire and roller-bearing production, more than half of her fighter-aircraft production. And they had still to reach their full strength.
The Eighth's Leader. Major General Eaker, commander of the Eighth Air Force since the transfer of Lieut. Gen eral Carl ("Tooey") Spaatz to North Africa last December, had 25 years of Army flying to prepare him for his part in the combined air offensive. Through these years he was a fighter-plane man. He mentioned this to his chief, General H. H. ("Hap") Arnold when he was sent to England to head the Eighth's Bomber Command. "That's right, Ira," said Arnold. "What we want is more of the fighter spirit in the Bomber Command."
At 47, brown-eyed, balding, leather-faced General Eaker has plenty of that fighter spirit to spare. Outwardly a serene and soft-spoken man, he has a core of hardness and tenacity which stood him in good stead in the difficult months of the Eighth's slow development. All his life he has had to adjust himself to circumstances. He studied law at Manila while stationed in the Philippines; he attended the Columbia University School of Business when duty took him to New York's Mitchel Field. At the School of Journalism of the University of Southern California he won an award for the best story of the year, and he utilized this training to bring the case for air power before the public in books, newspaper and magazine articles —some written in collaboration with Gen eral Arnold.
Eaker's tact, his soft Texas accent and his open-mindedness paid dividends in the first months of his command in England. His first speech was characteristic. "We won't do much talking," he said simply, "until we've done more fighting. We hope that when we leave you'll be glad we came."