T H E A R M Y A I R F O R C E S I N W O R L D W A R I 1
tween British and American comrnander~.~~On undertaking the
establishment of a headquarters at High Wycombe (PINETREE in
code) that would serve for the immediate direction of American
bomber operations, General Eaker followed as far as was possible
the organization of the near-by RAF Bomber Command, thus achiev-
ing a measure of organizational similarity designed to facilitate co-
operation. By 18 May he was able to notify Spaatz that the bomber
headquarters should be ready to “control and supervise in bombard-
ment operations by the 1st of June.” 4 3 The tardy arrival of the first
combat units obviated any test of that promise in June, but plans
for close co-ordination with the RAF proceeded along lines that
permitted the prompt adoption of formal agreements following the
arrival of General Spaatz. Early in July, the RAF invited the Eighth
Air Force to share membership on some of the more important RAF
operational committees-those dealing with targets, operational re-
search, interception, and bomber operation^.^^ Composed of senior
staff officers for the study of operations data as a guide to policy,
these committees thus took an important step toward their trans-
formation into combined committees representative of the two air
forces. Close personal agreement having theretofore marked the rela-
tions between General Eaker, who continued to command the VIII
Bomber Command, and Air Marshal Sir Arthur T. Harris, command-
ing the RAF Bomber Command, they further agreed on the eve of
the Eighth‘s entry into combat that Eaker, or his representative,
would attend the daily operations conference held by Harris and that
the two commands would co-ordinate action for the selection of
targets and the issuance of communiquCs or other press releases.45
The pattern of collaboration thus established for bomber operations
was promptly followed by the two fighter commands.
Not until November 1942 was a definitive understanding with the
British reached on the most fundamental question arising from the
purpose to base American fighter planes in the United Kingdom.
The RAF proposed that American fighter units be integrated with
its own under a plan eventually to assign entire defensive sectors of
the United Kingdom to AAF operational The suggestion
had obvious administrative advantages to recommend it, but it would
have involved the assumption of heavy responsibilities for defense of
the British Isles. The AAF preferred that all of its forces be con-
centrated in an offensive effort against Germany, with the defensive
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