the attacks of world war three. part 3

8/6/2019 The Attacks of World War Three. Part 3

1/30

- .f l- ' " ,B O D l! .C E D A T T H E f lA T IO f iA L A R C f U V c S. ~- ,, $~ . . . . '.._ t ~ -

1 , .

, ) :",

< P R E S E N t A T I O N :: S y 'taE .S T R A T F 1 0 i C ' :~,~~i;~,: ~ t l h ~ N f w k n ~

o '~ ,~" v ,_ ,~~." ;, \ ._~ 'r~, , '" ";.'~.~

r '

- : -,;

.',".~/

~ . ' > : - : ~ : " . " ;< ' ; } i A i ~ o / ~ : : ~: : ' . ' , ' ; , , : : ~ ; . - " ~,t 0 t~: '~ I. ~ ,I.. '.~ . .".-t."'-'''''~'' ..,',~:;t.'~?' "',:' ...,.(.,.' '" ,,:,",I,~ ~ . , ~ , " , ~ . > , , ~ _ ~ - t . . . , ( - . ' = ; . ,; -> , ~' .- , , .c ", ' -,

~. . . . -t-,"

/ ~. ,, "COpy

. . . . -,'I


2/30

'.~

, ,

DECLASSIFIEDAuthority N NP S t ' ? J O : t ( ~CRETBy 4 6 \ NARA Date a J n l { ! L b f, --

HEAD-QUARTERSSTRATE.Gle AIR COMMAND

TOP SECRETA U T H : CG, S A C21 A pr 50$?n

C OM }(IANDERS CONFERENCE 'U NIT E D S T A T E S A IR FOR CE

R A ME Y A IR FOR CE BA S E25 - 26 - 27 A pril 1950

TOP SECRET


3/30

RQDUCEDATTH~ NATIoNAL ARCH IVES ,

q , r m e w t t t r w , . - ~ ~ ~ ~ ' ~ ~ I ' ; ~ ) i < E u t J t r r N ~ ~ ~ : ~ ~ S : ~ l l ' ; Q ; E E l ' ~ D ' - ' ~ " " / i f : i j i ; ~ ~ t ~ : ; ; l , , ' t " 'J " ;" ' . " _ H~~." ' - .Authori ty N t 1 v J P S r o O : f - ( "~y 4 6 \ NA~ Date 1 A J - t 2 1 ~ E C R E T

AGENDA

R E SOU RCE S A ND S T A T U S OF T HE S TR A TE GICAIR COMMAND, OU T LINE OF T H E WA R PLAN,AND DIS CU S SION OF CU R R ENT SOFT SPOT S -D IR E CT OR OF OPERATIONS

TOP SECRE T


4/30

General Vandenberg and Gentlem~n:In brief order I will cover the current operational plan

for the atomic offensive and the pr eserrt status of forceswithin the Command~ Following this, General LeMay has askedthat I point up the major deficiencies which impair, orthreaten to impair, the execution of this plan.

Items to be discussed include:Organization and location of unitsPersonnel

P lan o f ov ersea S' ffio ve men tP la nne d dis pos it io n of deployed forcesLatest target systemFirst atomic strikeNotes on bombing accuracyCurrent "soft spots"'

(CHART)A s shown by this chart, S trategic A ir Command is com-

posed of the following:Three (3) H eavy Bombardment GroupsEleven (11) Medium Bombardment GroupsOne (1) Fight~r Group (with one additional group tobe assigned in the near future)T hree (3) S trategic R econnaissance W ingsT wo (2) S trategic T ransport S quadrons

Tnn ~r ..n.--r


5/30

f iODUCED ATJHE ; NP )T iDNA tMCH IVES:_~, ~ ~"~~. ~:. ~',V~'t~~~~~0~~i'Y~~~~~~ ~~~~~~

D E C L A S S l I i 1 E DA u th or ity N t N P S r ; ; D : 'E - {~Y 4 6 \ N A RA D ate 1 A . f n ! / D b

,

.

i!II 1IlI1i'I,I

!t!

- If~

\

'.1

..nI--z::lUvLI-oZo~uo_.J

(f) (f) c, (f) .' a . . c, :) a. . Cf)::J = > 0:JZ00e x : 0ce x : 0:: (!) 0:: 0C.!) (!) Q: (!) U >C O rn t- o : ::c :E u, C/). . . . , rO

t-J l 'I ,


6/30

I1i(f)0:: lO0 < .0-.u, mI . L . .0

\IIt

oo > - Z ...Jc r : : ~~ .J O~- l-...J >~ 00,a> zV _j _


7/30

T hese units are ol'ganized as follows:S hown in green are units of the Fifteenth A ir Force,commanded by G eneral O 'D onnell with headquarters at March hirForce Base ~

Units of the Eighth Jdr Force shown by yellow arelocated in the central part of the country~ T he E ighth A irIForce is commanded by General R amey, with headquarters atCarswell A FB1 Fort Worth, T exas.

In the eastern part of the country are located unitsof the Second l~ir Force 11 These units are shown in blue bGeneral A tkinson commands the S econd fdr Force with head-quarters at Barksdale, Louisiana.

A s shown by next chart, the command has a total person-nel strength of 67,156, composed of:

9,166 Officers51, 240 f~irmen6,462 Civilians, and230 Wii,Fs

Thit;; amounts to apprmdmately 16% of the totrtl strengthof the A ir Force.

A lthough fully manned, body- wise 1 S A C is only 85% ef-fectively.mannedo

(CHART)A s for aircraft, exclusive of administration types,

we have a total of 784, broken down as follows:2


8/30

",.", "~tl.OD~~~-A fT l1E iIIAT !9~A~;ARCH IV E S '" ". ' -" ';"" "" '" ,:


9/30

512 Bombers 1 including 27.H eavies and 485 Mediums(Note that the 485 Mediums consist of 148 B- 50sand 337 B-29s)A lso note that of the 512 total, 50% are e quippe dto carry the A - bombs~Our total tanker strength is 77~ A ll of these areequipped with the British type refueling system.Our total R econnaissance strength is 62~ A ll ofthese are the B- 29 type. W e have not yet receivedour first R B- 36 or our first R B- 50.ht present we have 104 Fighters. With the assign-ment of the 31st Fighter Group, this figure will bea pproximat ely d oub led .In our T ransport units we have a total of 29 aircraft.

S o much for assigned aircraft~(CHART)

A t e xe rc is eH D U J~ LI S M2 U conducted at Maxwell Field inD ecember 1948, we outlined in detail. the pl~n for moving ourforces overseas~ hithough the size of our deploy ment haschanged, the general scheme of movement remainG the same.

T he present plan calls for rapid movement overseas ofseven (7) Bomb Groups~ one (1) Fighter Group, one (1) R econ-naissance Group, and five (5) A - Bomb !.ssembly T eams.

One additional bssembly T eam goes to hlask a.3

TOP SECRET


10/30

DEGLASSlFIEDAuthority N I N r > S 1 1 2 0 : ' 1 - (~Y 4 6 \ NARA Date.~

t u"we nQ,o. . .

o00e nf " ' - I f ) " _ ; 'o WIXUwen

Q,o. . . .

"

TOP SECRET


11/30

Authorirv I\J ",1" 0:, ? -. () "J - ,

TOP SECRETOn E .- D ay only a limited number of movements occur, all

of which 0re in the ~one of the Intcrior~ T he large scalemovemerrt s tarts on E ]! 1 with the departure of the ini t iulsquadrons.

By E f 3 the intensity of movements will rench its PGak~T o refresh y our memory , I have a chart showing movementsscheduled for E f 3~

(CHf~RT)As shown by this chart t~e second squadrons of each de-

ployed group ure moving into position in the U nited Kingdom;the third squadrons are shown departing home stations forstaging bases~ S taging bases include: Goose BaYf H armon,S elfridge, fmdrews, Kindle y, and Iagens. T actical aircraftwill be routed through storage sites to pick up A - Bombs u~dcomponents.

E n route to hlask u- five (5) B- 29s from R apid City carry -ing A - Bomb components, and two (2) C- 54s carry ing assemblyteam personnel nnd equipment.

By E l 5) all movements are scheduled to be cODlpleted"(CHilRrr DOWN)

Our plan calls for the utilization of eight (8) airbases in the U nited Kingdom~ T he disposition on those airbases is shown by tho noxt chart.

(CH/1RT)

4


12/30

w(f)


13/30

DECLASSIFIEDAuthority N IN P S'1 )O :'f (~Y - 4 b \ NA~_?ate H l l O I { O b

Fairford _ the 2d Group with 30 B- 50s, 15 tankers and15 B-293

1and A ssembly T eam 5~

(Note:" A ~Bomb carriers are shown in re~o):Q ,pperH eyford - the 307th Gro:up with 33 B-Z9s.Brize Norton _ two groupS , the 93d with 45 B- 50s, the

97th with 15 B-50s, and A ssembly T eam 3.Lakenheath _ the 30ist with 30 modified B- 29s, 18

tankers, 15 B-298, and A ssembly ri'eam2.S cul thorpe _ the 43d Group with 33 B-50s, 20 tanlters,

12 B~29s, and A ssembly "ream 1.~aham _ 509th Group with 33 modified B- 298, 20 tankers,

12 B- 29s, and A ssembly T eam 4.Bentwaters _ the 27th Fighter Group with 81 F- 84E s and

and F-02s.H eathroW _ the 5th R econnaissance Wing with 4B RB-29s~The total force will consist of 349 bombers, 43 1'econ-

naissance, and 01 fighter aircraft for a grand total of 478~"s mentiolted previouslYt Assembly 'lleam No.6 will be

deployed .t.o A lask a' J to handle bombs' for the B-36 staging op- .eration.

(CHART DOWN)A s for targets, plan "TROJAN" listed a total of 70

ind ustrial ce nte rs. Plan HOFF TACI{LE'~ lists a total of 123.With the ta rge t ma teri~, l we now have 1 we are prepp.red

to strike 60 of the 123 targets~ Pre- strike reconnaissanceis required on the remaining 63. T he location of targeted

5

TOP SECRET


14/30

o 0:J-w(/)0tzIaJ wU 0 O : : ( f )o . . c nz: z 00-L L I lL J lJ.I I J . J


15/30

TO,P SECRE Tand un- targete4~~freas is shown by the follow.;~~g cl\~r-t.

0'\ ( CHART )

R ed drscs LndLca.tie areas on which we now have targetmaterial, and blank d Lscs indicate areas w hic h- " w~ ll re qu irepre-strike reconnaissance.

The magnitude of the recoilrtaissa-nce effort can be ap-, 'pretili:aed by llbtiiig t lH: number- s of iint.ar' geed areas and their

geogt'tiphical spread. Several of the tat-get areas assi"ghedby "OFF TAC ICLEu lie outside the bounciai-les 'ijf RUS's1J1 pr-oper ,'

(C HART DOW N)T he first atomic'strike is scheduled to be launched on

E+6.Medium b~mbers will attack fro~ the Un.Lt ed Kingdom and

8-368 will attack from either Alas~a,Goose Bay, or RapidCity. In the event that a- 36s are launched from R apid City,it will, of cou~se, be necessary to stage them through theMiddle E ast. Experience to date indicates that, with presentfacilities at E ielson, we will not be able to operate B- 36sthrough Alaska during mid- winter when temperatures are belowabout -300

T he next chart shows the scheme of attack for mediumbombers based in the U nited Kingdom. Let me emphasize thatthis is only t~e first striket''iJ;l,vo~vil':lgtotal of 26 targetareas. Also let me point out that it 1 :8 ,onty' one way of con-ducting the strike.' T here are, of ~ourse7 .many variations"inv:ol~ing the .size of the force as wel~ as tactics t.o be em-ployed.

6

TOPSECRE ,T


16/30

DECLASSIFIEDAuthority N ( , \ . I f . ' Sr?2D~HBy 4 6 \ NARA ~ate l i J - D l ~ ~

TnD S~CRET


17/30

TOP SECRET(CHART)

T he attack plan calls ~or, S oviet "borders to be pane tr a tedsimultanepusly by two major forces attacking from the north-west and southwest.

T h~ total force will include 201 UK-based medium bombersand 10 North A merican- based B- 36s. On~y the U K phase isshown. on the chart~, 112 will attack along'the northern routeand 89 along the southern route. T he ~orthern force willapproach along S outhern S candinavia and S outhern Finland, thepen~tration occurr~ng,in the area northeast of L eningrad. 'T he southern forces will cross Central.France, Central Italy,the S outhern Ba~kans, and will penetrate alqng the Black S eaarea.

W e have resorted to color to show the scheme of maneuverby indicating successive positions of the two forces as theattack develops

. F o r instance, at the time that the northern force iscrossing S outhern S candinavia, the southern force will be

' cro ss in g G re ece .During the' pe r L od 1905- 1950, GeT, forces will be posi-

tioned as shown by brown. A t. this time, borders will becrossed and periphery targets bombe?

During the pe rio d 1950- 2035: , the forces will be posi-tioned as shown by the blue areas. S even targets will bebombed during this pe~iod.

7

TOP , SE CRE T.


18/30

TOP 'SECRET, , 'During the perLod 2035-2120~ posi tJons are shown by ~

green. Five targets will be bombed.The most ,'re'mcitetargets, t' ~talli~g ten, will be struckduring the period 2120"';2313, as shown q y the red.Within' approximately four hours after borders are crossed,

all targets will have been bombed..' ,We h a v e not att'empted" to indicate the wfthdrawal routes., ,

Howe;_;'~r forces' at tack.tng targets' north' of the dotted Red" .. "line will withdraw to the UnLted Kingd'onq whil"e 'those attack-

ing targets s'outh of 'the line will withdraw 'to' staging basesin the Middle'Erist. '

We believe tha t this' general scheme of '~fta~k' will g ' 1 v e ' cus the "maximumdogr ee of saturation in so far as fighter de-

, 'tween successive aircraft. A cell will normally 'comp~isefrom two to four supporting bombers and one Jl~-carrier,

Simul taneous with the United Kingqom str-Llre , B-36s are". . .

scheduled t o strike six targetl.? from"N'oTth j\mericanbases,making a totaL of 32 t.az-gets included >in' the first st~ike.

It is also planned to, dispatch reconnai.ssance aircraftagainst unt.ar-geted areas during this fi'rst strike

.. .._ .. ,The timing of la_tlr strikes Will be d


19/30

'

TOP ' S , E C R E T ' ;strike not l'ate'r than Ef:9. If United Kdngdom bases r emaLntenablo1 i t is planned to' complete strikes against '123,targetswi thin a period of 30 days. -}. ..

(C HART DOW N)'S'ince exe rcLs e 'lDUALISM,'~ much interest and effort has

b~~n:devot~d' to the problem of bombf.ng a'c6u~acy. Many que s " tions have been asked concer-n rng vthe '{ap'ability of .our "ocrews

, ,

to hit ass Igned targets,. The WeaponEistystem ~vuiua:ti~h Grouphas, ~omp{'~ted '~n i'ntens1ve study o f our ~~pab'ili ty, ..and hasrendered a faY-arable' report.

As a matter o:{ Lnfo rmatLon, General 'LeMay asks that I ~ !review quickly the, progress we have 'made "dur Lngrthe pastye~r on radar bombing accuraqy.

Before presenting actual fi'gures', a ; ' ,feW 'w ords on ' thebackground 'o~ this problem.

" " .During the past Y,ear we 'have conducted a number ofI' '... evaluation e}..0rcises deSigned to measure bombing 'accuracy

. ' ,capability _ Th~s'e exercises cons i.sted o f in-dar' bombing runsngain~i a v~riety ofip.dusiri~l 'ri.re~~wi thin (he UnitedStates. Ground radar units were"used "totrack 'the bombersand measure bombing accuracy_

Ali attacks were conducted at' ' 25 ' , 000 ,'i~'ef and aboye ~. Ln addition, a system:' of ufl11st rllIlsu vi6:s iust!tuted, a, . .' ~ \ ..~ .,",firs't-runH being the iui tial approach on anyone day against

a pa r-t LcuLa'r target. This, was done to: isolate and eliminatethe advarrtage gained through successive runs.

(CHART)9TOP SECRE T


20/30


21/30

TOP SECRE T.. I~JA s shown by this chart, the trend of q.ll S A C first runs

J1~s ~f0p'ped from az-ound 5000 feet last 'year to a present

In all radar runs, including practice runs, the' errorhas fallen from ~pproximately 4000 feet to 13000

During the early part of ~949,w e ex pe rie nc ed somerather high bombing errors in the neighborhood of from..,eightto ten thousand feet., Close scrutiny, indicated thatthesehigh errors were due to faulty techniques, poor mission'preparation, and ~a.ck of experience at high altitudes onindustrial ty pe targets.

Accordingly, an in te nsiv e t ra in ing program, both airand ground, Was instituted on the subject of radar bombing.

It also became apparent that e spe cia lly s elec te d crewswould have to be ear-marked as A -c~rriers and subjected tointensive training. T his Was 40ne and a L ead Crew SCh001was established for this pur p oe e ,

In the summer qf 1949 an E ?xercise was conducted utiliz-ing lead crews. A number of missions,were rur. againstPhoenix and S acramento, producing an average.CE P of about2500 feet 0

In the wi~ter of 1949, ~he fina~ two exercises wereconduct~d against Ogden nnd StocktOll o 'One,hundred and fiftynine first.runsproduced an average er~or of around 3000 feet.For this e x e l ; " c i s e all sac crews w e r e scheduled. Notethat theiresults confirm the accuracy trane. line ..

10

TOP SECRET


22/30

TOP SECRE TIt. . ,A lso a controlled e~periment was conducted by S A C and

A PG, utilizing B- 36s at 40,000 feet altitude. With the im-proved Q-24 equd pmerrt, B-36 crews were ab~le.to av erag e .192pfeet fbr a total .of 114 :I'~ctD.i runs ,Targe~~ includ~d Eglin, Tampa and Birmingham.

Our Lead Crew8ch~ol is .still in op~ration and is beingused to train evaluated. crews selected as A - carriers. T hiswill be a continuing piogram. By careful screening of.Acrey/s, .by con tinu ed tra in in g, and with improved bombingequipment, such as the Q-24 and K series, we believe "thatbombin~ accuracy can be improved below the 2000 foot level.

With a 'Yeapon radius of 5000 feet, we are confident thattargets can be accurately bombedo

Appr o x im a t el y 18 J 000 radar runs, all conducted 'above25,000 feet~" provide the basis on whi6h these figures ~erebased.

So much for bombing accuracyQ(CHA :a. Tc DOWN )

The fcrego i.nggives a biief pLct.ure of SAC resourceaand the planned utilization of those- reSources r in the evento - f an emergency. You cap. appreCiate the need for a high

"degree, of readiness and preparationti~ the Plan is to becarried out on schedule ~ 'rhere are a numbe r of deficiertcieswhich threaten to impair; to varying :degrees, it s exe cu tion4

Current deficiencies ihclude:Advanced Bases

11

TO P SECR~T.


23/30

.- - ,

'. '

LUoz(/)O ~w o z'~ z 0.>, 0Cl' .' W~ ,0::,

. _

(/).'0::i J . . JI-::L,(!)-u,

p,:'" .ZW:?!., , .> -o_. J,o_ .. 'W0.o : : ~ .oJ . . ! . . . ,W_j,~al'< c ._j "-


24/30

TO 'P SECRE T

ECM , . . '

ReconnaissanceFightersirlift available for deployment

E lectronics Mainten~~ce Personnel andMateriel

On the subject of A dvanced Bases;You will recall that, ~herecent plan contemplates the

use of eight (~)~ir Bases in' the U ni~ed Kingdom and two (2)staging bases in the Middle E ast. For d~scussion, I willuse a chart previously shown,

( CHA~T )T he three bases in the Oxford area - Fairford, U pper

H ~yford and Brize Norton, have runways of only 6000 feet inlength. T hese are inadequate for B- 29 operatio~s and ex-tremely marginal f or B ,: ", ,50s .he use of th~se bases in theimmediate future would necessitate stag,:lng~ number ofsorties through the eastern bases. A l t.hough arrangementsare under way for lengthening the ru~ways, considerable timewill be requirE1d before the wo~k is completed(l

So far as runways are concerned, L,akenheath, Sculthorpe,Marham and Heathrow a re s at is fa ct or Yq

Bentwaters has SOOO-foot" strips which are inadequate for.F-34ES l operating wi th four external .tanks

12


25/30

TO P SECRETBase person~~l c~mple~ents are no w co ns id ered adequate

for Lakenheath: S culthorpe and Marham. H owever, none areavailable for the addit~onal l?ases:at present~

Essential base equipment is Ln place only at Lakenhea:th,.Sculthorpe and Mathern.

Pla:ns for base defenses and ground ,security are notsatisfactorily developed. A.t\.-de~"mseis limited to only a

, "few 50 cai'ibre guns and no conqrete pl.ans havevbeeneve Loped

" 0

the attacks of world war three. part 3

Documents