Case Studies in the Achievement of Air Superiority - Air Force ...

AIR SUPERIORITY
twenty-eight of them. That same morning, eighteen B-25s and twenty-five
P-38s intercepted twenty-five Ju-52s and a number of other aircraft while
conducting an antishipping sweep. The Americans claimed to have downed
twenty-five enemy aircraft, twenty of which were transports. Most of the
transports apparently were carrying gasoline, for they burst into flames and
exploded when hit by gun fire. An additional four Ju-52s were shot down
by Spitfires of the Northwest African Tactical Air Force. The following day,
two additional P-38 sweeps took place over the Sicilian Straits, which
resulted in thirty-two more enemy aircraft claimed shot down. FLAX represented
an attritional response designed to win air superiority as well as
to aid the ground fighting in Tunisia.65
The Western Desert Air Force assumed responsibility for FLAX operations
in mid-April, since its aircraft operating from fields north of Sousse
could easily operate over the north coast of Tunisia. The problem for British
planners, however, was to ascertain the best time and place for interception
of the enemy given the relatively short time-over-target leeway afforded the
P4Os and Spitfires of the command. In order to intercept enemy transports,
fighter patrols had to be maintained over the entire area. At first the British
used small groups of fighters spread over “the maximum space and time
because this would increase the chance of interception.” This tactic was tried
on April 16 when thirteen Spitfires intercepted a number of enemy transports
escorted by more than 15 fighters. The out-numbered British lost two aircraft,
claiming ten enemy planes in return.
The Western Desert Air Force adopted “a policy of annihilation” after
April 16, which meant that sweeps were never again to be carried out by
less than 3 squadrons of P-40~ with a squadron of Spitfires providing top
cover. According to an RAF staff history, this strategy resulted in most of
the fighters of the Western Desert Air Force being devoted to FLAX, “following
the basic principle of concentration in time and place which had
been too often neglected in the past.” On April 18, the Western Desert Air
Force staged the famous “Palm Sunday Massacre” when 4 squadrons of
P4Os from the AAF 57th Fighter Group, with top cover provided by RAF
Spitfires of No. 92 Squadron, caught 130 enemy aircraft over Cape Bon. As
the American planes attacked the enemy transports, some enemy aircraft
were seen to crash land either in the sea or on land to avoid the P-40 gunfire.
When the battle ended, the Western Desert Air Force estimated that
74 enemy aircraft had been destroyed with a loss of 6 Allied fighters. Early
the next morning, 36 P4Os of the South African Air Force’s 7th Wing intercepted
26 enemy aircraft, and when the fighting was over the South Africans
claimed to have destroyed 15 enemy planes. The last major action of
FLAX occurred on April 22 when South African P-40~ and American aircraft
from the 79th Fighter Group attacked a number of the giant Me-323
transports and their escorts. When the shooting ended, the Allies claimed
38 enemy aircraft had been shot down.@
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