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Photo Courtesy Aerospace Power Chronicles Col. Phillip S. Meilinger |
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by Col. Phillip S. Meilinger One of the more well traveled airmen of the Second World War was Lewis H. Brereton. A graduate of the Naval Academy, he had served on Billy Mitchell's staff during and after World War I and rose steadily through the ranks in the years thereafter. At the time of Pearl Harbor he was commander of the Far East Air Forces-such as they were-under MacArthur. When that command collapsed a few months later, he was sent to India to command the Tenth Air Force, and thence to Egypt to head the Ninth Air Force. In 1943 he took the Ninth to England in preparation for the Overlord invasion, and in August 1944 he was selected to lead the First Allied Airborne Army for Operation Market Garden. After the war, Lieutenant General Brereton was a senior military advisor to the Atomic Energy Commission until his retirement in 1948. He was a key figure in several important events of the war including the destruction of his air force at Clark Field, the fall of Burma, the British success at El Alamein, the lowlevel strike on Ploesti in August 1943, D day, and "a bridge too far" at Arnhem. He recounts his experiences in The Brereton Diaries (New York: W. Morrow and Co., 1946). |
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Chapter 6 by Louis Morton Maj. Gen. Lewis H. Brereton, the Far East Air Force commander, is mentioned in this online chapter of the book. You may access the page by clicking on: and using the "Find" function on "Brereton" |
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From The Early Birds of Aviation ROSTER, 1996 Back 
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