Down to Earth: Fighter Attack on Ground Targets

Down to Earth: Fighter Attack on Ground Targets

VIII Fighter Command, 30 August 1944

76 photos, 1 drawing, 1 diagram

A Merriam Press World War II History Reprint

Merriam Press 2025 PDF edition; this edition includes each page of the original manual which was typewritten and included photos and was offset printed, but of less than perfect quality, but nonetheless an important document for those interested in the air war over Europe in World War II.

Merriam Press paperback edition was released in 2013 and went through two revised editions, improving design and print quality. Paperback edition is now out of print.

In Down to Earth: Fighter Attack on Ground Targets by VIII Fighter Command, American fighter pilots of the Eighth Air Force provide their rules for conducting ground attack operations against the enemy. There was much more to ground attack than flying low and shooting up anything and everything, and these pilots tell how they did it in their own words. An extremely rare manual published in August 1944, just when ground attack was becoming a major factor in the war across the European continent. 

Original copies are very scarce; I had acquired a photocopy of this manual back in the early 1980s from Garry L. Fry. Unfortunately, his copy was also a photocopy of a photocopy of an original and in the edition produced and sold (also as a photocopy) in the 1980s and through the 1990s, the photographs were, naturally, of very poor quality. 

In June 2001, a customer, Jon Bailey, ordered a copy of this manual because he was looking for information on the unit his grandfather flew with during the war. His grandfather is William B. Bailey, a P-47 pilot with the 353rd Fighter Group, who was then a lieutenant colonel and is one of the pilots who contributed to the Down to Earth manual. When Jon informed his grandfather of the copy of the work he had purchased from me, his grandfather mentioned he had an original copy of that work. 

When Jon informed me of this development, I asked Jon to ask his grandfather about loaning me that book so I could produce a better edition. Colonel Bailey was willing to do so, and also advised me he had an original copy of The Long Reach, another VIII Fighter Command manual on long range escort tactics, and was willing to loan me both of them. 

I certainly want to thank both Colonel Bailey and his grandson Jon for their very generous assistance in loaning these two incredible works so that they could be included in this series. 

In their own words, American fighter pilots of the Eighth Air Force provide their rules for conducting ground attack operations against the enemy.

There was much more to ground attack than flying low and shooting up anything and everything, and these pilots tell how they did it in their own words.

An extremely rare manual published in August 1944, just when ground attack was becoming a major factor in the war across the European continent.

Originally published 30 August 1944 by VIII Fighter Command.

Starts with "From the Zenith to the Deck" by Brigadier General Francis H. Griswold, USA, Commanding

Includes Pilots Rules for Ground Attack by these pilots:

Colonel Donald J. M. Blakeslee, 4th Fighter Group, P-51

Colonel Thomas J. J. Christian Jr., 361st Fighter Group, P-51

Lt. Col. Ben Rimerman, 353rd Fighter Group, P-47

Lt. Col. William B. Bailey, 353rd Fighter Group, P-47

Capt. William J. Maguire, 353rd Fighter Group, P-47

Capt. Gordon B. Compton, 353rd Fighter Group, P-47

Capt. Vic L. Byers, 353rd Fighter Group, P-47

Capt. James N. Poindexter, 353rd Fighter Group, P-47

1st Lt. Horace Q. Waggoner, 353rd Fighter Group, P-47

Major Charles J. Hoey, 353rd Fighter Group, P-47

Capt. Leslie P. Cles, 353rd Fighter Group, P-47

Capt. Wayne K. Blickenstaff, 353rd Fighter Group, P-47

Major Kenneth W. Gallup, 353rd Fighter Group, P-47

Col. Joe L. Mason, 352nd Fighter Group, P-51

Col. Roy W. Osborn, 364th Fighter Group, P-38

Col. Avelin P. Tacon Jr., 359th Fighter Group, P-51

1st Lt. R. B. Hatter, 368th Fighter Squadron, 359th Fighter Group, P-51

1st Lt. R. L. Thacker, 369th Fighter Squadron, 359th Fighter Group, P-51

Lt. Col. John B. Murphy, 370th Fighter Squadron, 359th Fighter Group, P-51

Col. John B. Henry Jr., 339th Fighter Group, P-51

Col. Hubert Zemke, 56th Fighter Group, P-47

Capt. B. M. Gladych, Polish Air Force, P-47

Lt. Col. Thomas L. Hayes Jr., 357th Fighter Group, P-51

Col. F. C. Gray, 78th Fighter Group, P-51