1 - The Black Vault

PRAETORIAN STARSHIP
three months, Eaker lobbied Washington for support.
On 9 March 1944 the War Department
authorized Eaker to designate one squadron to be
organized for OSS operations. The 122d Liaison
Squadron was inactivated, and men and equipment
throughout MAAF were redirected to form
the new unit. 12
General Eaker used the three-plane B-17 element
at Blida to form the nucleus of the new
squadron. Fifteenth Air Force was directed to detach
12 B-24 Liberators from its bomber force to
be utilized by the special operations unit. The aircraft
were sent to a maintenance depot in Tunis
for modifications and painting during March and
April, and aircrews were trained in low-level operations.
In February the unit flew five missions;
in March and April, 35 were flown. In May, well
before all crews were trained and aircraft modified,
88 missions were completed. On 10 April
1944 the new unit was officially activated as the
122d Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), and on 15
June 1944, it was redesignated the 885th Bombardment
Squadron (Heavy) (Special), with three
B-17s and 12 B-24s assigned. 13
On 2 May 1944 General Eisenhower directed
General Spaatz to provide an additional 25 aircraft
for the Carpetbagger Project. On 10 May the
788th and 850th Bombardment Squadrons were
assigned to the Carpetbaggers, thus bringing the
total aircraft strength to 64 Liberators assigned to
the 801st Bomb Group. 14
Throughout the spring, OSS/London and
OSS/Algiers accelerated combat operations into
France in preparation for Operation Overlord, the
invasion of France by way of Normandy, and Operation
Anvil, the invasion of southern France.
Before D day, special operations missions concentrated
on the delivery of weapons and ammunition
to resistance groups operating in occupied
France. 15 To a lesser degree, agents and agent
teams were infiltrated to assist in organizing
French resistance forces. After the Normandy and
southern France invasions, the air effort shifted
to personnel airdrops, as hundreds of Allied
teams were inserted into the French interior. As
ammunition and supplies were expended, resupply
drops were flown to keep those forces operationally
sound. 16 Special Operations B-17s and B-
24s flew their low-level missions at 1,000 feet
above the ground, at approximately 150 knots indicated
air speed (KIAS). Once near the drop zone,
the aircraft descended to 800 feet for personnel
drops or to 400 feet for resupply drops, then
slowed to 120 KIAS. Resupply DZs were usually
marked by flashlights or small fires placed there
by the reception team. For personnel infiltrations,
many teams were dropped into unmanned and
unmarked drop zones. 17 From January 1944 until
the end of the Normandy campaign nine months
later, OSS-tasked B-17s and B-24s flew into
France on virtually every moonlit night to execute
covert operations. OSS/Algiers aircraft also flew a
few missions into Italy and the Balkans, and
OSS/London Carpetbaggers flew occasionally into
Denmark and Norway. The primary objective,
however, was always France. 18
Support for OSS covert operations did not come
without a price. At its peak in the summer of 1944,
the USAAF committed 83 aircraft to the covert
low-level infiltration, resupply, and exfiltration of
OSS-sponsored agents (three B-17s, 76 B-24s, and
four C-47s). Of these, the Carpetbaggers lost 13
B-24s and 219 personnel over France, while the
122d/885th did not lose a plane operating out of
North Africa. One 122d B-17 and two Carpetbagger
B-24s were also lost in noncombat accidents.
By September 1944 German presence in France
had all but ceased. Only small pockets of German
resistance in fortified enclaves could be found. On
12 September the 885th Bomb Squadron flew its
last sorties into France, and on 17 September the
Carpetbaggers ceased operations there. 19
After a successful French campaign, the Carpetbaggers
continued operations into Norway, Denmark,
and over Germany itself. Operating from
southern Italy, the 885th flew missions into
northern Italy, the Balkans, and Eastern Europe.
The units continued to provide critical support to
the Allied war effort throughout the remainder of
the war. Like many other units at war’s end, special
operations units completely disappeared from the
USAAF , and the OSS itself ceased to exist. It would
take another war, which occurred halfway around
the globe in a place called Korea, before special op -
erations aircraft would fly again the low-level mission
around which Combat Talon was designed.
Post–World War II—The Cold War,
Korea, and the Road to Vietnam
World War II ended in the Pacific in August
1945, and a nation weary of a half-decade of war
eagerly transitioned to the role of an emerging
superpower. Europe and Japan lay devastated
from the war, yet America was virtually untouched.
The huge demands of rebuilding the
world’s economy placed the United States at the
forefront of this massive undertaking and thrust
it into an economic boom unparalleled in history.
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