Weather prime factor in D-Day and even more important in warfare today
The D-Day landings in Normandy on 6 June 1944 marked the beginning of the end of World War II in Europe. Few people realize that weather was the deciding factor in the timing of the momentous landings. The Sixteenth Air Force’s (16 AF) 557th Weather Wing (WW) played an active role in Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s, the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, decision on the evening of 4 June to postpone the largest amphibious operation in human history for 24 hours. The 557 WW, then known as the Army Air Forces Weather Wing, part of a British-American Meteorological team, issued a forecast on 4 June that called for unfavorable conditions for landings on 5 June with marginal conditions for 6 June. After much discussion, the SACEUR made the fortuitous decision to move the landings to 6 June. Today, as the United States, it allies, and the West face new threats in Europe and the Pacific, 16 AF (AFCYBER), the USAF’s Information Warfare (IW) Numbered Air Force leads the on-going fight in the Competition Continuum. Just as it was nearly eight decades ago, weather is still a prime factor in IW.