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  • Tuskegee Airmen

    Reflecting American society and law at the time, the U.S. military remained racially segregated during World War II. Most African American soldiers and sailors were restricted to labor battalions or other support positions. One experiment in the U.S. Army Air Forces, however, demonstrated

  • Type F-1A Utility Heater

    The Type F-1A heater, built by the Herman Nelsen Corp., is a World War II-era portable gasoline-powered unit designed to produce a steady flow of heated air. The Army Air Forces used it in cold climates to pre-heat aircraft and motor vehicle engines for easy starting, and to heat crew compartments,

  • The Four Chaplains

    Heroism and Interfaith in Icy WatersIn April 1941, the United States and Denmark signed an agreement pledging the U.S. to defend Greenland from invasion. It allowed the U.S. to build military bases in Greenland, which President Franklin D. Roosevelt stated was critical to defending the Western

  • Two Escapes: Capt. Jack Ilfrey

    Capt. Jack Ilfrey, an ace who ended the war with eight victories, twice escaped capture. In November 1942, on a ferry flight from England to North Africa, Ilfrey diverted to an airfield in neutral Portugal because of a malfunctioning drop tank. The Portuguese seized his P-38 and Ilfrey was to be

  • Tools of the Trade

    USAAF airmen were supplied with many tools to help them evade the enemy if they were downed or to escape from POW camps if they were captured. In addition to these, ingenious POWs made their own from material at hand.Evasion PursesEvasion purses were issued to aircrews before they flew over enemy

  • The Kindness of Strangers: Escape Routes and the Resistance

    Resistance movements in Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia worked with Allied intelligence to form escape networks. Countless other Europeans acted independently to help downed airmen. At the risk of death and torture to themselves and to their families from the Gestapo

  • Tactical Support

    On July 25, the Allies launched a massive attack at St. Lo to break out southward from the invasion bridgehead. The AAF and RAF committed their forces based in England to support the ground offensive, both on the front lines and in rear areas. Fighter-bombers and tanks operated as a team, with the

  • Target Berlin

    Berlin, the capital of Germany, was selected as a prime target for the AAF, not only for its industrial importance, but because it was believed the Luftwaffe would react in force to defend it, suffering heavy losses in the process. The first attack was made on March 4, 1944, but only 29 bombers

  • The Aircraft

    The Boeing-designed B-29 No. 44-27297 was built by the Glenn L. Martin Co. at Omaha, Neb., at a cost of about $639,000. It was accepted by the USAAF on April 19, 1945, and was delivered to the 393rd Bomb Squadron at Wendover Field in the Utah salt flats. There, aircrews of the 509th Composite Group

  • The Aftermath of the Mission

    Even after the second atomic bomb attack, disagreement raged within the Japanese government between peace advocates and those who urged continued resistance. An attempted coup by militant extremists failed, and on Aug. 14, Japan surrendered unconditionally. In a break with tradition, Emperor