london blitz

Luftwaffe Raids: St. Paul’s Stands Proud

By David Alan Johnson

At St. Paul’s Cathedral, the rooftop lookout telephoned the cathedral control center at 6 pm to report that air raid sirens were sounding off to the southwest. Read more

london blitz

The Rangers’ British Padre: Father Albert Basil

By Michael D. Hull

One day shortly after the Battle of El Guettar in central Tunisia in March 1943, Colonel William O. Read more

london blitz

The “Big Wing” Controversy and Hugh Dowding’s Fall From Grace

By Jon Diamond

In the summer of 1940, the vaunted Luftwaffe, fresh from its victories in the skies of France and the Low Countries, began its aerial assault in an attempt to either bring Britain to “peace” terms or destroy the Royal Air Force as a prelude to Operation Sea Lion, the invasion of southeastern England. Read more

london blitz

Boeing Wonderland: The Fake Cities on America’s West Coast

By Bill Yenne

When I was a young boy in Seattle, my father told me about a fake town that had been built on top of Boeing’s Plant 2 during the war. Read more

london blitz

“Flak Was Our Worst Enemy”: Wilbur Bowers’ Air War Over Europe

By Richard A. Beranty

For 33 months beginning in 1942, the U.S. Eighth Air Force and its precision daylight bombing strikes against German targets in Europe tried to pound the Third Reich into submission. Read more

london blitz

The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress: Stories from a WWII Pilot

By Lester F. Rentmeester

The following story describes one of our air raids when I was piloting a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress during World War II. Read more

london blitz

“This is London…”: Edward R. Murrow in WWII

By Roy Morris Jr.

On the evening of August 7, 1937, two neophyte radio broadcasters went to dinner together at the luxurious Adlon Hotel in Berlin, Germany. Read more

london blitz

Rain of Terror: The Bombing of the British Isles

By Michael D. Hull

First, there was a faint drone, with black specks visible in the sunny sky. Then the drone grew into a thunder, and hundreds of bombers appeared over London. Read more