page_title: 8th Special Operations Squadron
section_title: Philippines Campaign
hierarchical_section_title: 8th Special Operations Squadron / History / World War II / Philippines Campaign
caption_attribution_description: English: Douglas A-26B-5-DL Invader - 41-39116 - McGuire Field, San Jose, Mindoro, Philippines
context_page_description: The 8th Special Operations Squadron is a squadron of the United States Air Force. It is assigned to the 1st Special Operations Wing, Air Force Special Operations Command, stationed at Hurlburt Field, Florida. The squadron is equipped with the Bell Boeing CV-22 Osprey in support of special operations.
  The 8th is one of the oldest units in the United States Air Force, being organized as the 8th Aero Squadron on 21 June 1917 at Camp Kelly, Texas. The squadron deployed to France and fought on the Western Front during World War I, equipped with United States-built Dayton-Wright DH-4, as reconnaissance aircraft.
  During World War II, the squadron fought in the Southwest Pacific Area with Fifth Air Force as an attack and later North American B-25 Mitchell medium bomber squadron. During the Cold War, it fought in the Korean War with Douglas B-26 Invader medium bombers and Vietnam War as a Martin B-57 Canberra medium bomber and later as an air commando squadron with Cessna A-37 Dragonfly counter-insurgency aircraft.
context_section_description: In November 1944, the 8th again prepared to move, splitting into advance and rear echelons. The advance echelon headed to Dulag Airfield, Leyte, Philippines on 15 November with 20 officers and 177 enlisted men. These men boarded a Landing Ship, Tank (LST) for Leyte. while 19 officers and 34 enlisted men of the rear echelon remained at Hollandia Airfield. Upon arrival at Dulag Airfield the 8th continued to fly missions against the enemy in support of ground force action. On 1 November there were 16 serviceable A-20Gs and 1 serviceable B-25J airplanes. On 30 November there were 15 serviceable A-20Gs. While based in the Philippines, the unit attacked shipping off the northwest coast of Luzon, flew missions in support of landings at Subic Bay, provided support for the recapture of Manila and Bataan, and cooperated with allied ground forces in bombing enemy held areas on Luzon and adjacent islands.
  However, the biggest change for the 3d Bombardment Group in the Philippines was that, unlike in New Guinea, it was no longer was the primary ground support unit for the landing forces island hopping in the Philippines. In New Guinea, it had been constantly at the brunt of battle. In the Philippines, the 3d was moved to a support role. In November, the entire group flew only one strike mission of 10 sorties and 4.5 combat hours was flown. No strike missions were flown from Dulag Field during the entire month of December 1944. In December new higher-horsepower A-20Hs arrived to replace the battle-weary A-20Gs.
  After about two months, the forward echelon of the 3d Bombardment Group moved again to Mc Guire Field, San Jose, Mindoro, Philippines on 30 December 1944. The rear remained at Hollandia, Dutch New Guinea until 23 January 1945, on which date the 8th Squadron planes left for McGuire Field, arriving on 24 January. From 24–31 January the entire Squadron was based at San Jose. On 1 January the Squadron had 16 serviceable A-20Hs and on 31 January there were 16 serviceable A-20Hs. The unit flew 6 missions for a total of 58 sorties. Resistance was light on the missions.
  On 9 January 1945, Lt Col Richard H. Ellis, commander of the 3d Bomb Group, led the first Group mission in the Philippines. The group, along with other units from Fifth Air Force, conducted a massive air strike against Japanese-held Clark Field, near Manila. Later that month, The Group supported the landing of US Forces at Subic Bay. On 9 February, Colonel Ellis led the group in a low-level attack against Japanese installations on Corregidor Island, in the beginning of a four-day attack. For the first time, aircraft of the 3d Bomb Group used aerial rockets. They later supported the American parachute assault against the small island that had been the scene of the American surrender three years earlier. As the major battles in the Philippines wound down, the Americans invaded Okinawa on 7 April 1945. The 3d Bombardment Group continued its operations in the Philippines, supporting secondary ground operations on Mindoro, Luzon and Mindanoa, also attacking Japanese-held industrial targets and railways on Formosa. Army ground elements followed on the footsteps of the 8th air attacks in the Philippines and found the Japanese on the hills "dazed and killed by concussion and the remnants were easily annihilated.
  At the beginning of May 1945, the group began received four early production models of the Douglas A-26B Invader for combat trials. Designed to replace the A-20 and B-25s, the Invader accommodated a pilot and a gunner. Faster, and with a longer range, it packed an impressive armament of 14 forward firing 50-caliber machine guns and could carry 2,000 pounds of bombs. In May, 23 missions for a total of 198 sorties were flown. All aircraft were flown from McGuire Field.
  In June, the pace of action slowed. The squadron flew 5 missions for a total of 46 sorties. The 8th was involved in strikes against Japanese troop concentrations in the Cagayan Valley on Northern Luzon. The last organized Japanese resistance on Luzon was crushed by the end of June. Rumors of a move from McG
caption: Douglas A-26B-5-DL Invader – 41-39118 8th Bombardment Squadron, Light, McGuire Field, San Jose, Mindoro, Philippines. Aircraft was one of four early models sent for combat trials in the Southwest Pacific.
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