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THE MISSION OF THE TACTICAL AIR FORCE

* * *

MISSIONS

..........

THE MISSION OF THE TACTICAL AIR

FORCE CONSISTS OF THREE PHASES OF

OPERATIONS IN THE FOLLOWING ORDER

OF PRIORITY:

FIRST PRIORITY

....

TO GAIN THE NECESSARY DEGREE OF

AIR SUPERIORITY. THIS WILL BE

ACCOMPLISHED BY ATTACKS AGAINST

AIRCRAFT IN THE AIR AND ON THE

GROUND, AND AGAINST THOSE ENEMY

INSTALLATIONS THAT HE REQUIRES

FOR THE APPLICATION OF AIR POWER.

SECOND PRIORITY

...

TO PREVENT THE MOVEMENT OF HOS

TILE TROOPS AND SUPPLIES INTO THE

THEATER OF OPERATIONS OR WITHIN

THE THEATER.

THIRD PRIORITY

....

TO PARTICIPATE IN THE COMBINED

EFFORT OF THE AIR AND GROUND

FORCES, IN THE BATTLE AREA, TO

GAIN OBJECTIVES ON THE IMMEDIATE

FRONT OF THE GROUND FORCES.

* * *

-from War Department Field Manual FM 100-20:

Command and Employment of Air Power

(21 July 1943)

THREE CRITICAL FACTORS FOR

FIGHTER-BOMBER PILOTS

...strafing passes... bring out three criti-

cal factors in a fighter-bomber pilot’s war....

One, any misjudgment, target fixation, or too-late

attempts at aiming corrections will send the air-

plane into the target, ground, or nearby trees or

other obstructions. Two, if the target is a load

of ammunition or other explosives, it can--and very

likely will--explode right in the pilot’s face,

sending up a fireball, truck parts, slabs of high-

way, still-to-explode ammo, and other debris right

into the path of the airplane. Three, if a pilot is

seriously hit by flak in [a] low-altitude attack,

his chances of ever reaching enough altitude to

allow a bailout are slim indeed....

-From Bill Colgan,

World War II Fighter-Bomber Pilot