Army Supply and Airborne Training

Perhaps the most persistent difficulty which the First Allied Airborne Army (FAAA) encountered in its attempt to train for and carry through airborne operations during August and September 1944 was the drain on its troop carrier resources by the requirements for air transport of supplies to the rapidly advancing armies. It was a constant tug-of-war. The Army, needing supplies, turned to the facilities of IX TCC as best suited to produce results. FAAA tried to keep Army demands to a minimum and to suggest other means of satisfying air transport needs. In an effort to secure alternate means of transporting freight, Lt. Gen. Lewis H. Brereton, Commanding General of FAAA, sought to get war-weary heavy bombers about to be returned to the United States, and on 17 August asked Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces (SHAEF) to make available 250 B-24's with their crews until 25 August. This request was rejected because it would entail diversion of combat aircraft.

Some progress toward combat training was made when, on 22 August, Lt. Gen. James H. Doolittle, Commanding General Eighth Air Force, offered to allocate heavy bombers to help in hauling freight, and turned over three B-17's and three B-24's to IX TCC for tests on types and amounts of cargo to be carried, time of loading and unloading, fuel consumption, and size of field required.

The situation was further alleviated with FAAA's acquisition of 38 and 46 Groups (RAF) for aid in the supply-carrying assignment, and by a directive from Headquarters United States Strategic Air Forces (USSTAF) to Eighth Air Force to set aside bombers for this purpose capable of 100 flights a day, to be placed under command of FAAA when necessary. One hundred sixty-seven B-17 supply sorties were flown in the week ending 2 September and 364 sorties the following week.

With the Holland airborne operation impending, the hauling of freight was stopped on 15 September. It had been a period full of frustrations and difficulties, when the hydra-headed needs of an invading army had had to be met with whatever was at hand. That the airborne troops, and the crews who flew them in, did so brilliantly is all the more admirable in the face of stupendous training difficulties.