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  • Blind Bombing: “Mickey”

    During the frequently cloudy conditions over Europe, USAAF bombers could not bomb visually.  In these conditions, USAAF heavy bombers used a radar system called H2X and code-named “Mickey.”   Mickey-equipped “pathfinder” aircraft gave formations the signal to bomb.  On B-24 pathfinders, the H2X

  • Early Operations: Ninth/Twelfth Air Force in the Mediterranean

    Until mid-1943, the USAAF’s small heavy bomber force in the Mediterranean primarily attacked enemy ports, airfields, and ships to help defeat enemy ground forces in North Africa and prepare for the invasion of Sicily.   Twelfth Air Force B-17 All-American was rammed by a German fighter while bombing

  • Black Thursday: Schweinfurt, October 14, 1943

    The Eighth Air Force attack against the ball bearing factories at Schweinfurt, Germany, on October 14, 1943, became known as "Black Thursday.”   After friendly fighters turned back at the German border, the bomber formations fought a running battle alone against the Luftwaffe.  The bomber crews

  • OPERATION TIDALWAVE: Ploesti, August 1, 1943

    On August 1, 1943, the USAAF staged Operation Tidalwave—a daring, surprise low-level B-24 raid against the Axis’ critical source of fuel, the oil fields in Ploesti, Romania.   During the unescorted 1,000 mile flight from Libya, clouds broke the formation into two groups and a wrong turn caused even

  • Women’s Army Corps in Europe

    “The WAC has been of inestimable value...Its members have worked devotedly, often at arduous tasks requiring exceptional performance.”            —General Carl Spaatz, US Strategic Air Forces commander   About half of the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) personnel—or “WACs”—sent overseas served in Europe. 

  • "Keeping them Flying": Mechanics and Bomb Leaders

    Bomber crews’ lives depended on the skill and diligence of their ground crews.  Ground crews constantly maintained the large, complex bombers, repaired battle damage, and performed modifications to make the aircraft more effective.  Bomb loaders in the ordnance section had the dangerous duty of

  • Early Operations: Eighth Air Force in England

    In 1942 and early 1943, while the British Royal Air Force (RAF) conducted saturation bombing at night, the USAAF was trying to prove the validity of daytime precision bombing with its small bomber force in England.  For the first year, Eighth Air Force heavy bombers attacked submarine bases and

  • Bigger Raids, Bigger Losses and Crisis

    In the second half of 1943, the USAAF continued to build up its heavy bomber forces.  As it hit targets ever deeper in enemy territory, however, staggering losses threatened the entire concept of daylight strategic bombing.Early assumptions were wrong—unescorted heavy bombers could not protect

  • Combined Bomber Offensive: Summer 1943 to Victory

              In the summer of 1943, the daytime American and nighttime British bombing campaigns became loosely aligned as the “Combined Bomber Offensive.”  This plan formally established “around the clock” bombing of the enemy.   Until D-Day in 1944, the priority targets were Germany’s fighter force

  • "Combat Box": Bomber Formations

    Formations were designed to protect heavy bombers against fighter attack and to concentrate the bomb pattern on the target.  These formations evolved over time to counter enemy tactics and to adjust for the increasing numbers of heavy bombers involved. B-17 formation during the mission against the