The pilot knew they could never make it back to England. It was impossible for the wounded fortress to stay in the formation, and as a straggler, it would be an easy target for enemy fighters. In order to hide, Smithy quickly flew the Liberty...
This would be Herman's 12th mission, the Liberty Lady's 13th. The last mission for each. In an old notebook filled with his writings, I found a few pages that Herman had written about this morning, typed and on yellowed onion skin paper. My guess is that...
The weather in Europe during these winter months was hard to predict and dangerous. In an ideal situation, the crews needed to safely take off, fly deep into Germany, see the target, and return home. It was never ideal....
The target for the Liberty Lady was dreaded Schweinfurt, the major ball bearing factory center. Now that the bombers had fighter escorts flying into Germany the orders were ...
The German city of Schweinfurt was the major center for ball bearing production during the war. When it was bombed by the 8th AF in 1943, the losses of bombers and men were devastating. October 14, 1943, which became to be known as "Black Thursday,"...
Day three of Big Week. The Liberty Lady crew's target is Bernburg where there was a factory for Junkers JU88 fighter planes....
Monday, February 21st. the target was Lippstadt Airfield. A 7 ½ hour trip for the Liberty Lady crew. This was a difficult mission because of the thick overcast. When the cloud cover obscured their principal targets, the heavy bombers had to go to secondary targets...
February 20th was on a Sunday. This was the 1st day of Operation Argument, Big Week, the Allies' week-long offensive against the enemy aircraft industry. For the first time, the 8th Air Force sent more than 1,000 bombers deep into Germany....