John Adams Brooks III

Military
media-27860.jpeg UPL 27860 Lt Colonel John A. Brooks III, [Greenville, Ohio], has been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross by Lt Gen Carl A. Spaatz, Cg of the U.S. Strategic Air Forces in Europe.

Object Number - UPL 27860 - Lt Colonel John A. Brooks III, [Greenville, Ohio], has been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross by Lt Gen Carl A. Spaatz, Cg of the U.S....

Lt. Colonel John Adams Brooks  led 17 B-24s on the low level bombing mission to destroy the German held oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania, with the 389th Bomb Group.



Later, after returning to Britain after the ploesti mission, Col. Brooks also formed, founded, and commanded the 8th Army Air Force's 2nd Scouting Force.  He flew one  B-24 tour, and t two P-51 tours over Europe.



He flew his personal P-51D, 44-14309,  YF-X,  Calamity Jane, (L) "Punkin" (R). See "Little Friends" website for a photograph: http://littlefriends.co.uk/gallery.php?Group=sf&Style=searchItem&Item=1…



In air combat, he destroyed 2 ME109s SE of Magdeburg.  9 Feb 45.



Awards: DSC, SS, DFC (2OLC), LOM (OLC), AM (5OLC), WWII Victory, EAME.





Lt. Col. John A. Brooks III



Lead Pilot, 2nd Scouting Force, Steeple Morden, England



Late in WWII, the 8th Air Force realized that it would be beneficial to have a reconnaissance force precede a bomber strike. There were many reasons for the forming of this recon force, including weather changes, changes in the positions and numbers of ground flak batteries, poor visibility at the target, which was sometimes cloaked by smoke from smoke pot fires set to hide them. Of these, changes in the weather was the most important reason for reconnaissance because weather briefings in England often didn’t match weather conditions present over the European continent. So that, sometimes, the bomber groups would suffer heavy loses by fighting all their way to a target that, ultimately, they couldn’t bomb.



The 8th Air Force Scouting Force was primarily composed from former lead bomber pilots who had volunteered for a second tour in fighters. For many, it was a dream come true to fly the fast and agile P-51 Mustang after flying 25 or 30 missions in bombers. Eventually, each of the 8th Army Air Force’s three Air Divisions would have it's own flying Scouting Force.



Even though the scouting force’s of P-51s were armed with their usual six, fifty caliber machine guns, recon scouting, not attacking German fighters, was their primary mission. But, of course, they happily took on that attack role whenever the opportunity presented itself, which was often.



On February 9,1945, Lt. Col John A. Brooks, was the commander of the 2nd Air Division Scouting Force. While leading a flight of eight P-51s on a mission near Magdeburg, Germany. He spotted a formation of an estimated 100 German fighters in two large “Vs” heading directly for the bomber stream that he was scouting for.



Without a moment's hesitation, Lt. Col. Brooks took on the dangerous risk of attacking such a huge force with only eight P-51s, although he knew very well that the attrition among German pilots over their long years of war, and the extreme shortage of fuel and lubricants caused by Allied bombing meant that many of the German fighter pilots were totally inexperienced and had very little, or even no, real training in their ME-109 fighters, and the veteran pilots would always be at the head of the German formations in the lead elements. Boldly and aggressively, Col. Brooks, signaled his wingman, Lt. Whalen, and flew right into the middle of the formation of German fighters and shot down most of the front element's planes where he knew their flight leaders would be, immediately throwing the entire German formation into chaos with German fighters breaking in every direction causing multiple air collisions by the young and panicked German pilots, who appeared to be dogfighting, in total confusion, with each other. Brooks and wingman Lt. Whalen dove away and escaped the chaotic German melee, totally undamaged, unscathed, and credited with a total of five confirmed victories, likely having accounted for several times that number. Meanwhile, the B-24 formation slipped by with only a very few straggler enemy fighters able to press home any sort of attack on them.



We’ll never know exactly how many American bomber crewmen's lives were spared that day, although, surely, such a large force of German fighters that size could have inflicted significant losses on the 2nd Air Division bombers, if they had been left on their own. For his actions on that mission, John Brooks was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. 9 Feb 45.



Sources  : " I met and spoke with Col. Brooks at two Scouting Force reunions, but most of the facts l have, were gleaned from Dick Atkins’ definitive book on the subject,  “Fighting Scouts of the Eighth Air Force 1944-1945” Taylor Publishing Company 1996. "

Connections

See how this entry relates to other items in the archive by exploring the connections below.

Units served with

The insignia of the 389th Bomb Group.
  • Unit Hierarchy: Group
  • Air Force: Eighth Air Force
  • Type Category: Bombardment

People

  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 389th Bomb Group 564th Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 15045876 / 0-325990
  • Highest Rank: Major General
  • Role/Job: Pilot
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 389th Bomb Group 565th Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: O-1699045
  • Highest Rank: Major
  • Role/Job: Co-Pilot / Pilot
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 389th Bomb Group 567th Bomb Squadron
  • Highest Rank: Lieutenant Colonel
  • Role/Job: Pilot
General Ted Timberlake of the 453rd Bomb Group. Handwritten caption on reverse: 'Gen Ted Timberlake CO 2BW.'
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 20th Combat Bomb Wing 2nd Combat Bomb Wing 453rd Bomb Group 93rd Bomb Group
  • Service Numbers: O-18619
  • Highest Rank: Brigadier General
  • Role/Job: Commanding General
Colonel Jack W Wood of the 448th Bomb Group. Handwritten caption on reverse: 'Col Jack W Wood CO 20 CBW, became USAF Controller General Washington DC.'
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 20th Combat Bomb Wing 389th Bomb Group 565th Bomb Squadron Headquarters (14th Combat Bomb Wing)
  • Highest Rank: Major General
  • Role/Job: Chief of the British-American Air Component, Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Forces Mission to Franc

Aircraft

  • Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
  • Unit: 389th Bomb Group 566th Bomb Squadron
  • Aircraft Type: P-51 Mustang
  • Nicknames: Calamity Jane Punkin
  • Unit: 2nd Scouting Force

Missions

Places

  • Site type: Airfield
  • Known as: Berka, al Birkah
Aerial photography of Honington airfield looking south, the technical site with four C-type hangars and bomb dump are at the top, 21 June 1946. Photograph taken by No. 540 Squadron, sortie number RAF/106G/UK/1589. English Heritage (RAF Photography).
  • Site type: Airfield
  • Known as: RAF Honington

Events

Event Location Date Description

Born

20 May 1917 Son of John Adams and Irma Ordelia [Richey] Brooks.

Other

E/A Destroyed [2]

9 February 1945 Destroyed 2 ME109's SE of Magdeburg on 9 Feb 45.  

Died

7 September 2001

Buried/ Commemorated

11 September 2001 Newaygo CemeteryNewaygoNewaygo CountyMichigan, USA

Based

Assigned to 389th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force. 25 missions in B-24's.

Based

Transferred to 2nd Scout Force, 8th AF.

Other

Graduated

Graduated West Point Jun-41.

Other

Flight training

Completed pilot training.

Born

Revisions

Date
Contributorjmoore43
Changes
Sources

Added " / " in the "Role/job" field as a separator to aid readability.

Date
ContributorKickapoo
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Sources

“Fighting Scouts of the Eighth Air Force - 1944-1945”.   Taylor Publishing Company 1996. "  by  Dick Atkins                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       -    Little Friends Websight :    http://littlefriends.co.uk/gallery.php. Group=sf&Style=searchItem&Item=1&searchString=brooks.

 

Date
ContributorKickapoo
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Sources

“Fighting Scouts of the Eighth Air Force - 1944-1945”.   Taylor Publishing Company 1996. "  by  Dick Atkins

Date
ContributorAl_Skiff
Changes
Date
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Date
ContributorDieterle
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Sources

Richard Dieterle, formatting.

Date
ContributorDieterle
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Sources

Philip Ardery, Bomber Pilot: A Memoir of World War II (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky: 1978) 99.

Date
ContributorDieterle
Changes
Sources

Philip Ardery, Bomber Pilot: A Memoir of World War II (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky: 1978) 99.

Date
ContributorAl_Skiff
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lda 3/22/16

Date
ContributorLucy May
Changes
Sources

Combined several duplicate entries. This one is now drawn from a combination of sources:
1996 355TH FG Assoc. Directory / Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia

Ted Damick, VIII Fighter Command pilots list

Date
ContributorAAM
Changes
Sources

Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / self & SECOND AIR DIVISION by Turner Publishing Company, D790.A2S45, 1998, page 218

John Adams Brooks: Gallery (8 items)