X-Nico

unusual facts about Fifteenth Air Force



454th Bombardment Group

After additional training in Tunisia, the air echelon joined the ground echelon, which had previously departed from Camp Patrick Henry by Liberty Ship, at San Giovanni Airfield, west of Cerignola, Italy, and was assigned to Fifteenth Air Force.

Charles F. Born

During World War II, he took command of the Antilles Air Command and Assistant Chief of Staff for Operations and Training of the Northwest African Strategic Air Force before being named Assistant Chief of Staff for Operations and Training and eventually Deputy Commander of the Fifteenth Air Force.

Nathan Farragut Twining

In January 1943, he was promoted to Major General and assumed command of the Thirteenth Air Force, and that same November he traveled across the world to take over the Fifteenth Air Force from Jimmy Doolittle.


see also

Big Week

# 289 B-17s are dispatched against aviation industry targets at Aschersleben (34 bomb), Bernburg (47 bomb) and Halberstadt (18 bomb) in conjunction with a Fifteenth Air Force raid on Regensburg, Germany; 32 hit Bünde, 19 hit Wernigerode, 15 hit Magdeburg, 9 hit Marburg and 7 hit other targets of opportunity; they claim 32-18-17 Luftwaffe aircraft; 38 B-17s are lost, 4 damaged beyond repair and 141 damaged; casualties are 35 KIA, 30 WIA and 367 MIA.