Paul Langdon Williams (16 April 1894 – 3 March 1968) was a United States Army Air Forces and United States Air Force general. As head of the IX Troop Carrier Command during World War II, he was responsible for the airlift of the airborne landings in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, Normandy, southern France, the Netherlands and Germany.
Early life Paul Langdon Williams was born in Detroit, Michigan on 16 April 1894 but his family moved to Los Angeles when he was still a boy. He graduated Stanford University in 1917 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.
World War I Williams was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Infantry Reserve on 28 April 1917. On 20 October he enlisted as a private first class in the aviation cadet in the Aviation Section, Signal Enlisted Reserve Corps. On graduation from flight training on 19 February 1918 he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Aviation Section, Signal Reserve. In April 1918 he was posted to Carlstrom Field near Arcadia, Florida. In December 1918 he moved to Gerstner Field, Louisiana, and then, in November 1919, to Calexico, California, for border patrol duty with the 9th Aero Squadron. From December 1919 to December 1920 he served with it at Rockwell Field and Mather Field in California.
Between the wars Williams received a regular commission as a 2nd lieutenant in the United States Army Air Service on 1 July 1920, and was promoted to 1st lieutenant the same day. He became post transportation officer at Mather Field in January 1921. In July 1921 was posted to Clark Field at Fort Stotsenburg in the Philippine Islands with the 3rd Pursuit Squadron. In September 1925 he was transferred to Kindley Field, Philippine Islands, where he joined the 2nd Observation Squadron, serving in post and squadron staff duties. Returning to the United States, he became operations officer for the 96th Bombardment Squadron at Langley Field. Williams served at the Air Corps Primary Flying School at Brooks Field, Texas, from June to October 1927. He qualified as a flying instructor at the primary flying school at March Field in 1930. Williams was Director of Flying at March Field from July 1930 to October 1931, when he became Director of Basic Flying Training at Randolph Field. He was promoted to captain on 1 March 1931 and temporary major on 16 March 1935. He became Director of Flying Training at Randolph Field in September 1935. From August 1936 to June 1937 he attended the Air Corps Tactical School. He then became commander of the 90th Attack Squadron at Barksdale Field, Louisiana.
World War II In September 1940, Williams became Operations Officer of the 3rd Bombardment Group (Light), of which the 90th Bombardment Squadron was a part. He became its commander in December 1940, and was promoted to lieutenant colonel. In July 1941, he became commander of the 27th Bombardment Group. He was promoted to colonel on 5 January 1942. From May to November 1942 Williams was involved with the organisation of the Eighth Air Force in the United Kingdom.
North Africa When the use of paratroops was contemplated for Operation Torch, Williams was given the task of organizing and commanding the 51st Troop Carrier Wing. The headquarters of the 51st Troop Carrier Wing arrived in Scotland on 1 September 1942 and was assigned to the Eighth Air Force. Williams was given all three of the troop carrier groups in the theater: the 60th Troop Carrier Group, the 62nd Troop Carrier Group and the 64th Troop Carrier Group. None of them had their full complement of 52 C-47 aircraft and many of the personnel of their air and ground crews were fresh out of training schools. Nonetheless, they constituted the entire Allied troop carrier force in the North African Theater of Operations operating in support of US and British airborne operations in North Africa. Williams reached North Africa by air on 15 November 1942. On 28 November Williams personally led forty-forty aircraft of the 62nd and 64th Troop Carrier Groups carrying 530 paratroops of the British 2nd Parachute Battalion. The battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel John Dutton Frost rode with Williams in the lead aircraft. Williams picked his landmarks carefully and successfully navigated his way to Depienne Airfield, dropping the paratroops nearby. All his aircraft returned safely. Frost and his paratroops were not so lucky; half of them were killed or captured fighting their way back to Allied line.
On 21 January 1943, Williams became head of XII Air Support Command, the ground support aircraft operating in support of II Corps on the Tunisian front. Nominally the XII Air Support Command had a strength of 52 P-40s, 23 P-39s, 27 A-20s and eight DB-7s. Williams' assumption of command coincided with an increase in German activity. Reacting to a concentration of German armor around Faïd, Williams' aircraft bombed and strafed it all day on 26 January, claiming twelve German tanks destroyed. However, German opposition was increasing in the air as well. On 2 February, six P-40s and four P-39s encountered twenty to thirty Stukas escorted by eight to ten Bf 109s. A Stuka was shot down; but so were five P-40s. His most experienced group, the 33d Fighter Group took so many losses that it had to be withdrawn to Morocco to rebuild. Then reverses suffered by the ground forces in the Battle of the Kasserine Pass forced Williams to evacuate his forward airfields around Thélepte. Eighteen aircraft, of which five were irreparable, were destroyed to prevent their capture. On 22 and 23 February, Williams attempted to launch an all-out attack on German forces withdrawing through Kasserine Pass, but the weather hampered his efforts.
Sicily Williams was promoted to brigadier general on 18 March 1943. After four hectic months with the XII Air Support Command, Williams returned to troops carriers as commander of the Northwest African Air Force Troop Carrier Command (Provisional). This had been created on 21 March 1943 to handle the airborne phase of Operation HUSKY, the Allied invasion of Sicily. In addition to the 51st Troop Carrier Wing, the Troop Carrier Command included the 52nd Troop Carrier Wing and No. 38 Wing, RAF. Getting this force ready for action was a major challenge. The 51st was assigned to work with the British and the 52nd with the Americans because the 51st had prior experience working with the British in North Africa, and its aircraft had been modified to work with British troops. However the British plan called for a glider infantry mission and the 51st had no experience with gliders, whereas the 52nd had conducted training with gliders before leaving the United States, but was committed to a parachute mission. Gliders were delivered disassembled and a major effort was required to assemble the required number of gliders. In the meantime, valuable training time was lost.
Williams had not been involved with experiments that had been carried out by troop carriers over the previous months and was therefore not up to speed on the latest pathfinder equipment and tactics, which were neglected during the planning phase of HUSKY. Moreover, the route chosen for the 52nd Troop Carrier Wing's operation was particularly difficult, involving three sharp turns over water in dim moonlight. Williams was unable to secure the necessary agreement from the naval commander, Vice Admiral Henry Kent Hewitt for a straighter route. Nor was he able to persuade the Twelfth Air Force to provide a fighter escort for his troop carriers or to fly searchlight neutralisation missions, although the RAF agreed to fly some missions against searchlights. On 21 May, Williams moved his headquarters from Casablanca to Oujda in order to observe the progress of training of the 52nd Troop Carrier Wing and the 82nd Airborne Division. At least one of his group commanders felt that Williams was over-optimistic about the proficiency of his crews.
The British glider operation, codenamed Operation LADBROKE on the night of 9/10 July 1943 was poorly executed. The aircrew of the 51st Troop Carrier Wing had difficulty with navigation and formation flying at night. The aircraft were buffeted by high winds, subjected to flak which caused some aircraft to veer off course, and encountered poor visibility. No aircraft were lost but only 12 of the 133 gliders reached the landing zone, while 47 came down in the sea. The simultaneous American operation, which involved 226 C-47s of the 52nd Troop Carrier Wing carrying 2,781 paratroops, encountered similar problems, resulting in the drop being widely scattered. Less than one-sixth of the paratroops landing on or near the intended drop zone. The 82nd Airborne Division's commander, Major General Matthew Ridgway, felt that the operation had "demonstrated beyond any doubt that the Air Force... cannot at present put parachute units, even as large as a battalion within effective attack distance of a chosen drop zone at night."
The HUSKY mission on 11 July was far less successful. The 144 C-47s of the 52nd Troop Carrier Wing that took part had to fly at night over the front line. Moreover, Allied naval vessels had not been cleared from the approach corridor. The troop carriers came under heavy flak from friend and foe alike. Some 23 aircraft were lost and half of those that did return suffered damage. The paratroops of the 504th Parachute Infantry were widely scattered and suffered heavy casualties. A mission codenamed Operation FUSTIAN, flown on 13 July in support of the British, cost 11 C-47s destroyed and 50 damaged out of 124 participating. After the costly failures in Sicily, Lieutenant General Lesley J. McNair, the commander of Army Ground Forces, was prepared to break up the airborne divisions, but Williams retained his faith in the possibilities of airborne operations.
Italy Because no British airborne operations were contemplated for the Allied Invasion of Italy, Williams directed both the 51st and 52nd Troop Carrier Wings to train with the 82nd Airborne Division. Taking the lessons of Sicily to heart, pathfinders were created. These were aircrew with the best available navigators carrying specially trained paratroops equipped with navigational aids. These included the British Rebecca/Eureka transponding radar and flashing Krypton lamps. The pathfinders' role was to locate and mark the drop zones for other airborne units. pathfinder training was conducted in Tunisia and encouraging results led to Williams' decision to employ Eureka in upcoming operations.