8th Air Force Assembly ships

[SIM]

This is a good video that talks about some of the assembly ships to form on for missions over the continent.

[potsNpans]

  Thanks for the post find.
#FJB

[Ack-Ack]

I would love to see some of the skins used by the Judah planes but the planes didn't see combat and were only used to help assemble the bomber formations.

The war weary bombers were referred to as Judah planes in reference to Judah goats which were specially trained goats that would lead the goats herd into pasture pens.

[MiloMorai]

In the book The Mighty Eighth, there is 2 pages of colour profiles of the assembly ships.

[decoy]

I would love to see some of the skins used by the Judah planes but the planes didn't see combat and were only used to help assemble the bomber formations.

The war weary bombers were referred to as Judah planes in reference to Judah goats which were specially trained goats that would lead the goats herd into pasture pens.

My Uncle Leo, who flew B24s with the Eighth, told me that they called the assembly ships "Judas Sheep," because it led the lambs to slaughter.  IIRC, he also said that B17 and B24 aircraft commanders were arriving in England with sometimes as little as 200 hours total time and the navigators generally had even less time, which was why the crews needed assistance in acquiring the correct heading.

I could be wrong. That conversation happened almost 50 years ago.

[decoy]

Here's a link to the Eighth Air Force Museum outside Savannah, Georgia.  It's a fun experience but also a very solemn one at the same time.

https://www.mightyeighth.org/

[MiloMorai]

My Uncle Leo, who flew B24s with the Eighth, told me that they called the assembly ships "Judas Sheep," because it led the lambs to slaughter.  IIRC, he also said that B17 and B24 aircraft commanders were arriving in England with sometimes as little as 200 hours total time and the navigators generally had even less time, which was why the crews needed assistance in acquiring the correct heading.

I could be wrong. That conversation happened almost 50 years ago.

The assembly ships weren't used for navigation to the target.

Each of those rectangles had an assembly ship.

[decoy]

The assembly ships weren't used for navigation to the target.

Each of those rectangles had an assembly ship.
(Image removed from quote.)

Maybe I was vague about what I meant.  You're correct, the assembly ships did NOT escort the groups to the target.  They were simply there so that the bomber group could line up on the assembly ship and the assembly ship would make sure they were on the proper heading.  Then the assembly ship would either rtb or circle back to prepare to get another bomber flight on the correct heading for their target.

Uncle Leo said the would fly northwest for three hours, while climbing, then reverse course and continue to climb so that they would be above 10K when they linked up with the assembly ship.  Once they were on the correct heading, they'd continue to climb so they'd be at the proper altitude by the time they were approaching their target.