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
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
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
Eighth Air Force
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress: Stories from a WWII Pilot
By Lester F. RentmeesterThe following story describes one of our air raids when I was piloting a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress during World War II. Read more
Eighth Air Force
Bomber Gunner Ben Kuroki: “Most Honorable Son”
By Sam McGowanIn 1942, many Americans considered anyone of Japanese ancestry to be an enemy, regardless of where they had been born or how long their families had lived in the United States. Read more
Eighth Air Force
Jimmy Stewart’s rise from Private to Colonel
By Sam McGowanJimmy Stewart is arguably the only prewar American actor of superstar magnitude to have served in a sustained combat role during World War II, and the only one to have served in a position of command. Read more
Eighth Air Force
The B-25 Mitchell Bomber and the Man Behind the Plane
by Sam McGowanDuring the 1920s, roughly two decades before the B-25 Mitchell bomber came into service, U.S. Army Air Service commander Brig. Read more
Eighth Air Force
Adolf Galland: Winged Knight of the Luftwaffe
By Michael D. HullOn a bright spring day in 1944, a Luftwaffe Focke-Wulf 190 fighter encountered a formation of U.S. Read more
Eighth Air Force
Daylight Bombing Gamble: The Schweinfurt–Regensburg Mission
By Richard RuleIn early 1942, the U.S. Eighth Air Force arrived in England firmly entrenched in the belief that continuous and accurate daylight precision bombing was the only way to decisively crush German industrial capacity. Read more
Eighth Air Force
Bavarian Berchtesgaden and Its Bunkers
By L. VanLoan NaisawaldThe swinging beams of searchlights and the wail of air raid sirens had preceded the crash of the guns. Read more
Eighth Air Force
WWII Warplanes: The Superb Supermarine Spitfire
by Sam McGowanIn the annals of World War II, one of the most famous airplanes is the British-developed Supermarine Spitfire, an agile, elliptical-wing fighter that has become synonymous with the Royal Air Force victory in the Battle of Britain. Read more
Eighth Air Force
Were P-47 Thunderbolt Aircraft Really Formidable Fighter-Bombers?
By Sam McGowanSince the end of World War II, the aviation press has made the North American P-51 Mustang into the superstar Allied fighter of the war. Read more
Eighth Air Force
Mission Critical Overlord Weather
By Gene J. PfefferOperation Overlord, the cross-Channel attack that hit the Nazi-occupied beaches of Normandy in 1944, was the culmination of a grand strategy adopted early in the war, followed sporadically during the years of conflict, and aimed at defeating Hitler’s Reich by striking directly at Germany by invasion. Read more
Eighth Air Force
Tale of the Biscuit Bomber: The C-47 in WWII
By Sam McGowanEven though, technically at least, it was not a combat airplane, the performance of the Douglas C-47 transport led General of the Army Dwight Eisenhower to label it as one of the most important weapons of World War II. Read more
