| The U.S. Army Air Forces in World War II

Air Power versus        U-boatsConfronting Hitler's Submarine Menace in the        European Theater

A. Timothy Warnock

More than fifty years after      World War II, America's major air power to the war in Europe--in efforts      such as Big Week, Regensburg, and Patton's dash across Europe---live on in      the memories of airmen and students of air power. Never before had air      space over the battlefield; strategic bombardment, destroying the enemy's      industrial and logistical network; air-ground support, attacking targets      on the battlefield; and military airlift, delivering war materiel to      distant bases.

Perhaps one of the least known      but significant roles of the Army Air Forces (AAF) was in antisubmarine      warfare, particularly in the European-African-Middle Eastern theater. From      the coasts of Greenland, Europe, and Africa to the mid-Atlantic, AAF      aircraft hunted German U-boats that sank thousands of British and American      transport ships early in the war. These missions supplemented the efforts      of the Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force Coastal Command, and the U.S. Navy,      and helped those sea forces to wrest control of the sea lanes from German      submarines.
**Table of Contents**
-  **German U-boats Threaten        Allied Shipping: December 1941-June1942****The AAF Response_ Tactics,        Technology, and Organization****The Battle of the Atlantic:        July 1942-May 1943****Hunting in the Bay of        Biscay: November 1942-October 1943****Guarding the Straits of        Gibraltar: March-October 1943****Bombing German Submarine        Pens: October 1942-April 1945****Defeating the U-boat Menace****Suggested Readings****Photo        Index**      |
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