Eighth Air Force
First Raid For the Mighty Eighth
By Michael D. HullGeneral Henry H. “Hap” Arnold, commander of the U.S. Army Air Forces, was a man both driven and under great pressure in the spring and early summer of 1942. Read more
Eighth Air Force
The Eighth Air Force was the primary component of the U.S. Army Air Forces based in England during World War II. It carried out bomber operations against Nazi-occupied Europe and the German homeland, bombing by day while the British Royal Air Force carried out night raids. Eighth Air Force fighter aircraft also engaged the German Luftwaffe in intense dogfights for mastery of the skies above Western Europe.
Eighth Air Force
The American Air Museum in Duxford
By Roy StevensonIn the lush, green rural community of Duxford, a 20-minute bus ride from the university town of Cambridge, the American Air Museum in Britain houses the finest collection of historic American combat aircraft outside the United States. Read more
Eighth Air Force
The Last Flight of the Lonesome Polecat
By Diane Condon-BoutierEvery February 11, Rouxmesnil-Bouteilles, a tiny town in Upper Normandy situated north of the Seine River a short distance inland from the coastal city of Dieppe and some two hours from the D-Day invasion beaches, pays homage to 10 American airmen who crashed into the town center, narrowly missing the local children assembled in their schoolhouse just a few yards away. Read more
Eighth Air Force
On a Wing and Several Prayers: The Story of a B-17 Tailgunner
By Glenn BarnettOn August 25, 1944, Larry Stevens and the rest of his Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber crew completed their 35th mission over Nazi-occupied Europe. Read more
Eighth Air Force
The Bombing of Berlin by Doolittle’s Eighth Air Force
By Robert F. DorrHe was widely regarded as America’s best pilot, he was already a recipient of the Medal of Honor, he was commander of the Eighth Air Force caught up in 1,000-plane bombing missions deep into the Third Reich, and he was mad as hell. Read more
Eighth Air Force
HBO Working on “Band of Brothers In The Sky”
Thirteen years after completing “Band of Brothers” and four years after its companion series, “The Pacific,” Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg are teaming up again for a new World War II HBO series: “Masters of the Air.” Read more
Eighth Air Force
Flying With the Fifteenth Air Force
By Tom Row with James BilderOvershadowed by the Mighty Eighth in England, the Fifteenth Air Force flew out of Italy and played no less important—and every bit as dangerous—a role in bombing targets in Nazi Germany and elsewhere. Read more
Eighth Air Force
Heroic Stand at Hosingen
By Alice M. Flynn and Allyn VannoyFirst Lieutenant Tom Flynn and his fellow POWs remained locked inside their boxcar prison on a Frankfurt railroad siding on Christmas Eve, 1944, as air raid sirens wailed and bombs exploded throughout the city. Read more
Eighth Air Force
Colonel Albert J. Shower: A Hated Hero of the USAAF
By Robert F. DorrAsk a member of the 467th Bombardment Group whom they hated most and the answer won’t be Göring or Hitler. Read more
Eighth Air Force
Daylight Precision Bombing: Dangerous Doctrine of the Eighth Air Force
By Herb KugelThe Eighth Air Force—the “Mighty Eighth”—became the stuff of U.S. Air Force legend when its fleets of unprotected Boeing B-17 “Flying Fortress” heavy bombers flew massive air raids against the heavily guarded German industrial heartland during the period between the end of January through the middle of October 1943. Read more
Eighth Air Force
Demise of the Japanese Navy
By Christopher MiskimonThe Japanese superbattleship Musashi was steaming east along with a fleet of other battleships, cruisers, and destroyers on their way toward what was expected to be a climactic battle at Leyte Gulf. Read more
Eighth Air Force
The Last Flight of Nelson King
By Keith BuchananThe Nelson King, a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber, was en route to Berlin on March 6, 1944, when it flew into a whirlwind of Luftwaffe fighters. Read more
Eighth Air Force
“Flak Was Our Worst Enemy”: Wilbur Bowers’ Air War Over Europe
By Richard A. BerantyFor 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
Eighth Air Force
Zemke’s Wolfpack: Famed P-47 Fighter Group
By Kelly BellOn May 4, 1943, the U.S. Army Air Forces’ 56th Fighter Group was ordered to meet a formation of Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers returning from a run over Antwerp, Belgium. Read more
Eighth Air Force
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, or the Consolidated B-24 Liberator?
By Sam McGowanOne of the most frequently discussed arguments to come out of World War II is which was the “better” bomber, the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress or the Consolidated B-24 Liberator? Read more
Eighth Air Force
The Pointe du Hoc Rangers: a Madman’s D-Day Mission
By Daniel R. ChampagneOn the morning of June 6, 1944, the 2nd Ranger Battalion, commanded by Lt. Col. James Earl Rudder, began its ascent of a sheer 100-foot precipice called Pointe du Hoc. Read more
Eighth Air Force
The Azimuth “Smart” Bombs of World War II
By Joseph Frantiska, Jr.As soon as one caveman threw a rock in anger at another, the human race took a giant step forward in warfare. Read more
Eighth Air Force
Command of the Air: The Allied Bombing of Germany
by Gerald AstorBehind the strategy that governed the American air war in Europe during World War II lay events and ideas that dated back to World War I and the 1920s. Read more
Eighth Air Force
P-47 Thunderbolts at the Battle of the Bulge
By Robert F. Dorr & Thomas D. JonesThe captured German pilot was cocky and boastful. He had just parachuted into the American airfield, now lit up by the fires of burning Republic P-47 Thunderbolts, a sprinkling of bright torches amid the gray January gloom and the dirty white snow. Read more
Eighth Air Force
Blue and Gray at Omaha Beach
By Major General Michael ReynoldsThe U.S. 29th Infantry Division was formed in July 1917, three months after America entered World War I. Read more
