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  • Glider Pilots: Silent Wings

    The success of German glider-borne forces early in World War II catapulted the Air Corps into a glider program in February 1941. Glider pilots were unique in that they had no parachutes, no motors and no second chances. In December 1941, plans called for training 1,000 AAF glider pilots, but

  • Cushman Airborne Scooter

    In the late stages of the war in Europe, Allied paratroopers used scooters like this one to maintain contact between units, increase their mobility and haul small loads. The Cushman Motor Works designed the Model 53 Airborne Scooter to be airdropped by parachute or carried by glider, and it had a

  • Maj. Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band

    In September 1942, Glenn Miller, one of America's greatest dance band leaders of the period, disbanded his orchestra so he could join the Army Air Forces to do his part for the war effort. Within a year, he organized and perfected what has been widely accepted as the greatest aggregation of dance

  • Airborne Operations

    Airborne Operations was one of the tactical innovations introduced during World War II, although the use of parachute troops had been considered during World War I. In the 1930s, most of the world's major armies were experimenting with the idea of airborne operations as a rapid means of delivering

  • Crossing the Rhine

    In February 1945 the Allies forged eastward toward the Rhine River, and on March 7 made the first crossing via the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen.To the north, ground troops crossed the Rhine at Wesel on the night of March 23-24, supported the following morning by an aerial invasion of more than 2,800

  • Battle of the Bulge

    Early on Dec. 16, 1944, the Germans began their large-scale counteroffensive in the Ardennes. During the first seven days, fog, clouds and snow seriously limited Allied air power, and by Dec. 24 the Germans had penetrated 50 miles westward. The weather let up and both Allied and German air power

  • Rockets and Jets

    Through the fall of 1944, the Allies made slow but important gains against the enemy all along the Siegfried Line. Anything of possible value was attacked by the AAF and RAF to reduce German capability for defending its borders. At the same time, Germany's transportation system and industrial

  • Battle at Arnhem

    With their troops on the borders of Germany and Holland by late summer, the Allies decided to attempt a breakthrough in southeastern Holland toward the Ruhr, Germany's industrial center. On Sept.17, a massive fleet of airplanes and gliders staged an aerial invasion behind German lines, with U.S.,

  • Shuttle Raids to Russia

    Early in 1944, the U.S. persuaded Stalin to permit AAF heavy bombers to fly shuttle missions to Russia to bomb enemy targets in eastern Germany and the Balkans without having to fly back to England and Italy. The Soviets made three airfields available near Kiev and the U.S. devoted months preparing

  • Rome Liberated

    During the first half of 1944 while the Allies had been preparing for the invasion of France, their forces in Italy had slowly driven the enemy northward. Rome was liberated on June 4, and by late September, the Allies had passed beyond Florence. In support of the land battle, Italian-based medium