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  • Luftwaffe Interceptors

    The first AAF bombing mission against a target inside Germany was made on Jan. 27, 1943, when 53 planes attacked Wilhelmshaven. Opposing German fighter pilots were fairly cautious, but on Feb. 4, when the AAF attacked Emden, it "stirred up a hornet's nest." For the first time, the Luftwaffe engaged

  • Daylight Bombing

    Aerial operations from England, although greatly reduced because of the North African campaign, continued during the winter of 1942-1943. Nazi submarine pens on the French coast were the main targets, though little damage was done because of the heavily reinforced concrete construction. This was a

  • Field Order No. 58 Intelligence Annex

    Annex 2 to Field Order No 58 INTELLIGENCE 1. a. (1) (a) There have been no recent reports to determine the present anitaircraft defenses of the target. Information received from sources believed to be reliable indicates that the total of heavy and medium antiaircraft guns is under 100 for the total

  • Field Order No. 58

    HEADQUARTERS IX BOMBER COMMAND APO 683, % Postmaster New York, N.Y. 28 July 1943 FIELD ORDER NO. 58 Maps: Plotting series and topographic charts of entire area - BENGASI, CORFU, BRACOV, CONSTANTA, INSTANBUL, CYPRUS. 1. a. See Intelligence Annex. b. Friendly ground situation: no change. 2. The Ninth

  • Ploesti Mission Details

    The information and maps on this page are from: Army Air Force Reference History The Ploesti Mission of 1 August 1943 (short title AAFRH-3) prepared June 1944 Click on one of the links below to view tables related to the Ploesti mission.Target and Target Forces PlansBomb Load PlanOperational Record

  • Uniforms from Ploesti Mission

    Lt. Raymond P. "Jack" Warner was a navigator on one of the B-24s that bombed the oil refineries at Ploesti on Aug. 1, 1943. Immediately after bomb release he was firing a .50-cal. nose gun dueling at tree-top level with anti-aircraft batteries. Enemy shrapnel nearly severed his left arm, but he was

  • Ploesti

    While Allied and Axis forces were battling in Sicily, the USAAF staged one of the war's most daring heavy bomber raids. The target was the Ploesti oil fields in Rumania, estimated to be supplying 60 percent of Germany's crude oil requirements.Shortly after dawn on Aug. 1, 1943, USAAF B-24s took off

  • Italy Surrenders

    Attention was next turned to Sicily. It was pounded day and night with bombs, and on July 10, it was invaded from the air by gliders and paratroopers. This was the first large-scale airborne operation undertaken by the Allies in World War II. Assault forces were then landed on the beaches under air

  • Pantelleria

    The capture of the islands of Pantelleria and Lampedusa, lying in the Mediterranean Sea between North Africa and Sicily, was vital to protect the flank of the planned invasion of Sicily. Geographic features made Pantelleria easily defended against an amphibious assault, so on May 18, 1943, an almost

  • North Africa

    In the spring of 1942, the German Afrika Korps, commanded by Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, "The Desert Fox," had advanced eastward across North Africa to El Alamein, deep inside Egypt. The British called for U.S. aerial assistance and by July, the AAF had become sufficiently strong to join the RAF in