The target on this mission was the port city of Ludwigshafen, deep into Germany. The city was at the junction of two rivers and was an important Allied target because of its oil refinery and chemical factories....
According to Miriam-Webster's on-line dictionary, the word "flak" is from "Fliegerabwehrkanonen" ...
Luftwaffe is the name for the German Air Force. The two German fighter planes that Herman mentions in his diary are the "FW" (Focke-Wulf Fw 190) and the ME 109. ( Messerschmitt Bf 109.)...
On Sunday, December 5th, 1943, Herman was awakened for his 2nd missions at 2:30 am. The target for the day was the factories at the airport near La Rochelle, deep in France, southwest of Paris....
Herman received Bombardier training at Victorville as well as navigator training at Carlsbad. He had been taught to use the Norden bombsight, that highly guarded military secret. ...
Herman's' first bombing mission was on December 1, 1943. He flew with another B-17 crew whose bombardier had been grounded. Since he had arrived at Thurleigh barely ten days before, and his flying equipment hadn't been issued yet, he had to "beg, borrow and steal"...
Charles L. "Steve" Stevenson was the navigator of Herman's original crew. He and Herman flew side by side in "the nose" of the B-17, and they became close friends....
Merle "M.P." Brown was the co-pilot of Herman's original crew and also on the Liberty Lady. After their interval in Sweden, he and Smithy flew together for several more missions. ...