Okla-homey
6/2/2006, 06:06 AM
June 2, 1944: United States begins "shuttle bombing" in Operation FRANTIC
http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/7723/fpat157jl.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/7533/fpoltava3yv.gif (http://imageshack.us)
Poltava, in the eastern Ukraine region of the USSR
62 years ago on this day in 1944, American bombers of the Fifteenth Air Force commence Operation FRANTIC, a series of bombing raids over Central Europe, launching from airbases in southern Italy, but landing at airbases in Poltava, in the Soviet Union, in what is called "shuttle bombing."
http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/3549/fbombrange8go.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Map showing the range of US B-17's and B-24's operating from recently captured bases in Italy
The Fifteenth Air Force was created solely to cripple Germany's war economy. Operating out of Italy, and commanded by General Carl Spaatz, a World War I fighter pilot, the Fifteenth was beseeched by a desperate Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin to help the Red Army in its campaign in Romania.
http://img54.imageshack.us/img54/2250/ffrantic66gb.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Conditions were pretty ruged at Poltava. Here a GMC truck is seen in use preparing a B-17 for the return run back to Italy
In exchange for the Fifteenth's assistance, Stalin allowed the American bombers to land at airbases within the Soviet Union as they carried out FRANTIC, a plan to devastate German industrial regions in occupied Silesia (the region of East Prussia from which your correspondent's paternal forebears sprang,) Hungary, and Romania.
http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/4884/f5c5cpresentation5cimages5cart.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Commanding general of the US Army Air Forces in Europe, gen Carl '"Tooey" Spaatz
Given that such bombing missions would have made round-robin flights to Foggia and other American bases in southern Italy from which the 15AF launched impossible because of refueling problems, the "shuttle" to Poltava was the solution that made FRANTIC a reality.
http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/4275/4420202027ao.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Bomber graveyard at Poltava. Many battle-damaged bombers barely made it in on a wing and a prayer and their wrecked remains littered the Russian base.
Before it was shortened to FRANTIC, the operation was dubbed Operation FRANTIC JOE -- a commentary on Joe Stalin's original urgent appeal for help. It was changed to avoid offending the Soviet premier.
Also on this day in 1944, the date for D-Day, the Allied invasion of Normandy, was fixed for June 5. Originally June 4, it was acknowledged by Allied strategists that bad weather would make keeping to any one day problematic. German General Karl von Rundstedt, intercepting an Allied radio signal relating the June 4 date, was convinced that four consecutive days of good weather was necessary for the successful prosecution of the invasion. There was no such pattern of good weather in sight. The general became convinced that D-Day would not come off within the first week of June at all. He was wrong.
http://img325.imageshack.us/img325/2474/insane7zo8nq.jpg
http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/7723/fpat157jl.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/7533/fpoltava3yv.gif (http://imageshack.us)
Poltava, in the eastern Ukraine region of the USSR
62 years ago on this day in 1944, American bombers of the Fifteenth Air Force commence Operation FRANTIC, a series of bombing raids over Central Europe, launching from airbases in southern Italy, but landing at airbases in Poltava, in the Soviet Union, in what is called "shuttle bombing."
http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/3549/fbombrange8go.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Map showing the range of US B-17's and B-24's operating from recently captured bases in Italy
The Fifteenth Air Force was created solely to cripple Germany's war economy. Operating out of Italy, and commanded by General Carl Spaatz, a World War I fighter pilot, the Fifteenth was beseeched by a desperate Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin to help the Red Army in its campaign in Romania.
http://img54.imageshack.us/img54/2250/ffrantic66gb.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Conditions were pretty ruged at Poltava. Here a GMC truck is seen in use preparing a B-17 for the return run back to Italy
In exchange for the Fifteenth's assistance, Stalin allowed the American bombers to land at airbases within the Soviet Union as they carried out FRANTIC, a plan to devastate German industrial regions in occupied Silesia (the region of East Prussia from which your correspondent's paternal forebears sprang,) Hungary, and Romania.
http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/4884/f5c5cpresentation5cimages5cart.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Commanding general of the US Army Air Forces in Europe, gen Carl '"Tooey" Spaatz
Given that such bombing missions would have made round-robin flights to Foggia and other American bases in southern Italy from which the 15AF launched impossible because of refueling problems, the "shuttle" to Poltava was the solution that made FRANTIC a reality.
http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/4275/4420202027ao.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Bomber graveyard at Poltava. Many battle-damaged bombers barely made it in on a wing and a prayer and their wrecked remains littered the Russian base.
Before it was shortened to FRANTIC, the operation was dubbed Operation FRANTIC JOE -- a commentary on Joe Stalin's original urgent appeal for help. It was changed to avoid offending the Soviet premier.
Also on this day in 1944, the date for D-Day, the Allied invasion of Normandy, was fixed for June 5. Originally June 4, it was acknowledged by Allied strategists that bad weather would make keeping to any one day problematic. German General Karl von Rundstedt, intercepting an Allied radio signal relating the June 4 date, was convinced that four consecutive days of good weather was necessary for the successful prosecution of the invasion. There was no such pattern of good weather in sight. The general became convinced that D-Day would not come off within the first week of June at all. He was wrong.
http://img325.imageshack.us/img325/2474/insane7zo8nq.jpg