U.S. Planes Pioneered Desert Tactics

American planes pioneered desert air war tactics

Punta Gorda resident James "Pat" Garofalo - a "Desert Warrior" of World War II - follows Desert Storm operations in the Mideast with special interest.

The things he and his buddies learned about desert air strikes in North Africa a half century ago are serving today's fliers well.

"We didn't have smart bombs, radar, laser beams, infra-red sensors, television, night vision or computers," says the retired Army Air Force sergeant.

"When we found our target, the pilot checked his speed, held up his thumb at arm's length for a sight, aimed the plane and gauged the bomb trajectory.  His accuracy was remarkable."

Garofalo was turret gunner on the Desert Warrior, a Mitchell B-25 medium bomber.

It was part of a group known as the Black Angels.  "There was no separate U.S. Air Force in those days," he says.  "We were a division of the Army.  There were 18 U.S. Black Angel planes attached to the British Eighth Army chasing Nazi General Erwin Rommel."

Nazi General Erwin Rommel - courtesy of Wikipedia

"Rommel was a wily tactician widely known as the Desert Fox.  In the first year of the war, his Afrika Korps advanced toward Egypt in an attempt to capture the Suez Canal.  British diplomats in Cairo were burning their secret papers when British General Bernard Montgomery and the Black Angels arrived to try and stop the threat.  We did it," declares Garofalo.

Doing it involved 73 missions against 35 targets throughout Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Sicily.  In addition, Garofalo helped shoot down two German Messerschmitt fighter planes while the Desert Warrior took a half-dozen 88-millimeter anti-aircraft shells.  Fortunately there was no serious damage to the plane or its seven-man crew.

"We learned some things then, the hard way, that our airmen use today against Iraq," Garofalo recalls.  "For example, we discovered that our 250 pound anti-personnel bombs burrowed into the sand before exploding and thus dissipated much of their force.

"To correct this, we attached three-feet of pipe to the bomb's nose so it would explode at ground level.  It worked very well.  Now the Air Force has bombs with timed fuses.

"Another thing we learned was how to find the enemy dug into desert sand.  They were hard to find when you were high in the air.  We didn't have space satellites and high-resolution cameras to help us.  We worked out a system of fast low-flying spotter planes to find the trenches and revetments.  Then we would follow up with high-altitude bombing.

"There are not many landmarks in the desert.  Nevertheless, after awhile you become familiar with a sand dune or rock that you normally would not notice.  We usually followed the Mediterranean coast until time to turn inland.

"Our airfield was a level place on the desert which we marked at the corners with 55-gallon oil drums.  When we took off we had to do so in one long row to avoid the dust kicked up by other planes.

"The sand was not like that we have here on the beaches in Florida.  It was like tan talcum powder.  However, it was extremely abrasive.  Alter each flight we covered our planes with tarpaulins to minimize sand damage.

"We also learned how to live in the desert," says Garofalo.  We adapted to the heat of day, cold of night and winter rains fairly easily.  Our greatest discomfort was the flies.  They swarmed around you by the thousands and got into your food.

"We asked our friends back home to send us flea-collars which had just been invented, but the collars didn't help much.

"We got one canteen of water a day to drink, and another with which to brush your teeth, wash and shave.

"To make the heat bearable, we erected a small tent inside a larger one.  This created space between the two which provided shade and allowed for circulation of air.

"It was all basic war.  Our fliers today have the latest technology to help them, but some of the things we learned about desert fighting are used now in the Persian Gulf.

After the Afrika Korps was defeated, the Desert Warrior was shifted to the invasion of Italy.

"Our most important mission was to destroy the Ploiesti oil fields of Romania which then supplied much of the gasoline for the Nazi war machine," says Garofalo.  "For this mission we flew from Rhodes and Crete.

"I still laugh when I recall the time we flew General George Patton from Sicily to Tunisia and back.  The general was a large man, and we made him wear a parachute.  He had difficulty getting through the hatch, so it was a job to push him in and out.  I don't know what he would have done had it become necessary to abandon the plane in flight."

Alter nearly four years of dangerous duty and patriotic promotion - the crew of the Desert Warrior was mustered out.

"I just wish I could go over to Saudi Arabia and do it all over again," exclaims Garofalo.  "With my experience I could still be of service in the desert."

The B-25 Mitchell Bomber
Source: The Encyclopedia of 20th Century Air Warfare

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