RichardQ Loc: Colorado

From 1945 to 1947, the Army Air Force in the American Occupation Zone gushed equipment and personnel like a dam burst. In less than two years, the European Theater inventory plummented from 17,000 aircraft to a mere 459 planes, while personnel rosters shrank from 450,000 officers and enlisted men to only 18,120 people in uniform. The 152 airfields under USAFE (U.S. Air Forces in Europe) command on VE Day were chopped to only 13 (nine in the American Zone of Occupation in Germany, and one each in Berlin, Austria, Libya, and Liberia).

According to USAFE's Office of History, in 1947 we had 188 assigned combat aircraft in Europe, but only three B-17 Flying Fortresses, two A-26 attack bombers. amd 31 P-47 Thunderbolt fighters were fully operational! Maybe the Russians wouldn't notice.

For the Theater Commander, General Joseph T. McNarney (who replaced General Eisenhower), that wasn't small enough. In March, 1947, he told the War Department that "an Air Force of about 7,500 people" was all he needed "to provide air transport and communications." He considered combat units to be an "administrative burden" and wanted them out. Nobody in Washington had a problem with that. Limited defense budgets and manpower ceilings (recruiting limits and no draft) demanded it. General Eisenhower was then Army Chief of Staff in the Pentagon, and noted that the mission of U.S. forces in Europe was to occupy Germany, not prepare for war.

Meanwhile, back in the Zone, we dealt seven months earlier with deadly skirmishes like the following. I'm quoting from the USAFE Office of History:

August 9, 1946 - A U.S. C-47 flying from Vienna to Udine, Italy, flew over Yugoslavia by mistake. A Yugoslav fighter attacked it with machine-gun fire, forcing it to crashland near Ljubljana. One passenger (a Turkish officer) was injured and the plane wrecked. President Harry S. Truman replaced the C-47s on the route with B-17s and ordered their gunners to "shoot if interfered with."

August 19, 1946 - Yugoslav fighters shot down another C-47 flying from Vienna to Udine, killing all five people on board: Captains Harold F. Schreiber, Glen H. Firestone, and Richard H. Clayes; and Corporals Chester J. Lower and Mathew Comls. The U.S. demanded an apology and immediate release of all Americans held by the Yugoslavs. On 22 August, they were released and Yugoslavia's leader, Marshal Josip Tito, apologized to the U.S. ambassador. The B-17 flights continued until 23 October.

These attacks were not the first. On April 21, 1946, four Soviet P-39 Bell Airacobra fighters (given to Russia under Lend-Lease years earlier) fired cannon shots close to a C-47 as it approached Tulin Airfield near Vienna. Although Tulin was operated by USAFE, it was situated within the Russian Occcupation Zone of Austria. Two days later, the first American jet fighters, Lockheed P-80 "Shooting Stars." were stationed at Giebelstadt in our German Occupation Zone. A year later they returned to the U.S. because of spare parts problems. Some deterrent.

Lonely B-17 "Flying Fortress" at FFB Airfield, hoping for one more mission - 1946


First U.S. jet, P-80 "Shooting Star", attracts fans at FFB - June, 1946


C-47 cargo plane: type shot down by Yugoslav fighters in August, 1946

ggttc Loc: TN

Great info and nice pics...thanks

markeisenbeil Loc: Deer Lodge, Montana

Thanks again for the history that not many of us has ever known, Richard. I always assumed that the military remained strong, even though the country was tired of fighting and the "red menace" was not a major threat yet.

RichardQ Loc: Colorado

Thanks for the comments, ggttc. I had to scan 68-year-old contact prints to post those shots, so I apologize for their quality.

RichardQ Loc: Colorado

Thanks for the comments, Mark. Our military organizations include a lot of dedicated professionals who are often sabotaged by political types, both in and out of uniform, including past presidents. Our intelligence folks sometimes seem as accurate as weather forecasters --I take that back, all you weather forecasters.

BamaTexan Loc: Deep in the heart of Texas

Absolutely no apology needed. Thanks for your continuing posts.

markeisenbeil Loc: Deer Lodge, Montana

:thumbup:

RichardQ Loc: Colorado

Thanks a lot for the encouragement, BamaTexan. Considering the high technical quality of the pix posted regularly on UHH, I feel a little ashamed -- but I can't go back and reshoot.

A fun shot of the P-80 and some curious officers who should know better - 1946


GIs crawl over and under a P-80 in Occupied Germany - 1946

Treepusher Loc: Kingston, Massachusetts

Interesting bit of post-war history. Enjoyed hearing about it and seeing the great photos. Excellent work of documenting the era.

blacks2 Loc: SF. Bay area

Thank you very much Richard I read your expertly written articles with great interest, history I never heard of. Like Tito shooting down the planes, I lived about about 80 miles from Udine, on that Austria-Italy-Yugoslav triangle border at that time but I am sure this was never mentioned in Austrian publications. Love your photographs, that little grain makes it an authentic image of that time. Keep up the great work Richard, thank you for sharing.

Fla Walt Loc: Delray Beach, Florida

Richard, Thank you for the history lesson. Your memories are invaluable records. I hope you have recorded everything for future generations to learn from.

JSPIRAKIS Loc: Florida

I always enjoy reading your posts. Have you tried sending your links to the History Channel and the Military Channel?

RichardQ Loc: Colorado

Thanks for your comments, Treepusher. Over the years, I wrote a good many articles on tech and scientific subjects, so I learned how to include items that lend credibility to my text. Fortunately, I also learned how to keep it short enough to fit the allotted space, but long enough to be informative. What makes this fun is that I'm writing in the context of my personal experiences instead of how a battery works or why a particular microchip is superior to others.

RichardQ Loc: Colorado

You're very welcome, Mike. Since you lived in that area, I expect you know about the age-old tensions between Italy and Yugoslavia regarding the port city of Trieste. Some experts believe the downing of these planes was Tito's Serbian revenge for America's role in granting Trieste to Italy after the war. Actually, Russia and the western Allies owe a great debt to Yugoslavia's cantankerous nature. In 1941 the pro-Nazi government was overturned by the military, causing Hitler to throw a fit. He postponed the "Barbarossa" invasion of Russia by a critical four weeks in order to deal with the coup. The Nazi armies were four weeks short of their Soviet goals when the Russian winter hit the Germans -- who were equipped only with summer gear. His generals were livid forever after. Stay well, my friend.

aviator Loc: mansfield

Hi RichardQ, You should write a book on your Post WW2 experiences in Germany. Your Chit-Chat posts are too informative and valuable to be lost in time.