Fact Sheet Alphabetical List

Fact Sheet Search

  • 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

  • “Big Week”: February 20-25, 1944

    In February 1944, the USAAF and RAF conducted an all-out campaign against Germany’s aviation industry and the Luftwaffe.  Heavy bombers from the Eighth and Fifteenth Air Forces hammered aircraft, engine, and ball-bearing plants by day, and RAF bombers attacked by night.  Code named Operation

  • Bombing Campaign Leaders

    Three iconic USAAF generals—Carl Spaatz, Ira Eaker, and James “Jimmy” Doolittle—played key roles in leading the strategic bombing campaign in Europe. Gen. Carl Spaatz decorates a wounded Eighth Air Force Airman while he recovers in a hospital in August 1944.Carl A. SpaatzAfter leading the Eighth Air

  • Enabling Technologies

    Advanced USAAF technology made the daylight strategic bombing campaign possible.  Key technologies included four-engine bombers, turbosuperchargers, and the Norden bombsight.  Four-Engine Bombers: B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator Four-engine B-17s and B-24s provided the range, payload,

  • Target Berlin

    Berlin, Germany’s capital, was selected as a prime target for the USAAF, not only for its industrial importance, but because the Luftwaffe would be forced to defend it, suffering heavy losses in the process.   The USAAF conducted its first major raid against Berlin on March 6, 1944—672 heavy bombers

  • Deadly Skies over Europe

    The Luftwaffe (German Air Force) built a sophisticated defense system to counter the USAAF strategic bombing offensive.  Enemy fighters and antiaircraft guns (also called “flak”) took a devastating toll.  The USAAF lost more than 8,000 heavy bombers—each of which typically carried ten crewmen—in

  • "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

  • Combat Aircraft to Museum Artifact

    After the bond tour, the Memphis Belle went to MacDill Army Air Field, Florida, to be used for training.  At war’s end, it was stored at Altus Army Airfield, Oklahoma, with other surplus bombers awaiting scrapping. In 1946, the city of Memphis, Tennessee, acquired the aircraft and displayed it

  • The "Memphis Belle" and Nose Art

    The “Memphis Belle”The Memphis Belle was named to honor Morgan’s fiancée Margaret Polk, of Memphis, Tennessee, whom he met before leaving for England.  Their love story was well-publicized, but their engagement ended during the war bond tour.Morgan flew on combat missions with a picture of Margaret