Squadron of deception

Air Classics, Jul 2001 by Hutton, Stephen

THE SAGA Of THE MIGHTY EIGHTHS 36TH BOMB SQUADRON IN ACTION OVER EUROPE AND ITS UNIQUE MISSION TO SAVE AMERICAN LIVES

PART ONE

They flew in four-- engine heavy bombers - but never dropped a single bomb! They were an American Eighth Air Force (8th AF) squadron, but flew their first missions with the British Royal Air Force (RAF). Initially, they flew night missions with the Royal Air Force and, later, daylight missions for the Mighty Eighth. On all these missions their aircraft preceded the Allied bombers to the target. They flew at times when the RAF and the 8th AF had no operations. And they flew on days when the 8th AF stood down because of weather. They were a unique and secret squadron that saved many Allied lives during World War Two. They were the 36th Bomb Squadron Radar Countermeasure (RCM) unit - the only electronic warfare squadron of the 8th AF.

Oh! You've never heard of them? As a secret squadron their story has largely gone untold. Until now. The 36th Bomb Squadron (36th BS) was a radar countermeasure unit that did not drop bombs and was not involved in typical 8th AF missions. It only compared to other bomb squadrons due to the fact that B-17 and B-24 heavy bombers were used. The bomb squadron name was designed to mislead the enemy and Allied personnel with no "need to know" into believing this was just another American bomber squadron. In fact, for the most part the bombers looked just alike, but instead of having the large heavy bombs loaded in the bomb bays, the radar countermeasure aircraft carried high voltage jammers. This squadron functioned as a special bomber support unit to protect Allied bombers and also to conduct experimentation of new electronic warfare equipment.

Electronic warfare was in its infancy at this time and the United States was following on the coattails of Great Britain. The ingenious British had learned that RCM had reduced their bomber losses by an astounding 50 percent. The 36th BS performed radar countermeasures by jamming the German radar which gave them early raid warning, and which also controlled the enemy fighters, the flak batteries or antiaircraft guns, and searchlights. Using RCM operational tactics, the missions of the 36th created spoofs and diversions causing confusion to the German defenders. Successful RCM missions left the Germans guessing the size of the invading forces, where to direct their critical defenses, and if a threatened mission was real or just a "spoof." By the spring of 1944, the Germans could ill afford to waste its resources of pilots, fuel, and aircraft. Through deception this special bomber support program, part of a larger electronic warfare effort, would save many Allied lives.

The 36th was born out of the 803rd Bomb Squadron (Provisional). The 803rd, which was not yet fully organized, worked initially with the RAF's 100 Bomb Group at RAF Sculthorpe during March 1944. Air Vice Marshal E.B. Addison led the RAF group whose motto was "Confound and Destroy." Combat veteran Capt. George E. Paris was chosen to command the 8th AF's fledgling 803rd. Captain Paris and this first attachment of airmen had already completed an operational tour by flying the required 25 missions. The radar countermeasure effort came under RAF Bomber Command and performed a variety of special operational activities. The secret missions used exotic hardware. The simplest was nicknamed Chaff, or Window as the British called it. These were aluminum strips not unlike tinsel and were dropped from the aircraft to obscure the enemy's radar with "snow." On a side note, it was discovered that in dropping some of the tinsel over the continent that, in addition to fouling the enemy radar, the cows were eating it and dying of indigestion. So, it had a bad side effect for cows as well as the enemy!

Other special equipment utilized in the Gremlin's bag-of-tricks were powerful electronic jammers. These devices had unusual nicknames like Mandrel, Dina, Jackal, Jostle, and others. Mandrel, for example, was an airborne transmitter tuned to radiate noise over the enemy radar frequencies. This disturbance tended to obscure the size of Allied attacking forces on the enemy's radar screens and also caused the enemy to conclude an attack was imminent when one was not. Another airborne electronic jammer, nicknamed Jackal, was used to jam the German tank communications during the Battle of the Bulge in the winter of 1944-45. Many of the aircraft jamming systems were developed and tested by Allied scientists associated with the American-British Laboratory Division 15 (ABL-15). They were part of the British Telecommunications Research Establishment located at Great Malvern.

In April 1944, Lt. Col. Clayton A. Scott assumed command of the 803rd. At this time the squadron included nine crews and six B-17s. In May, the squadron moved from Sculthorpe to RAF Oulton and commenced nighttime RCM operations supporting the RAF as they pounded the Nazis relentlessly. For the new 803rd, and for the Allies, the most important electronic warfare mission of WWII was soon to take place.