Before leaving Washington DC, the OSS office gave Hedy "A Short Guide to Grosvenor Square. " At Grosvenor Square, located in the exclusive Mayfair district of London, was the headquarters for the American Embassy. ...
On January 1, 1944, Hedy boarded the Aquitania, a massive British ocean liner which had been converted to a troop ship. Just imagine what an adventure this had to have been for this 22-year-old from Hibbing, Minnesota. ...
Our wilting B-17 Liberty Lady is flying over the island of Gotland, a Swedish province. Remember that the crew had no idea where they were and suspected that they were still flying over enemy territory. As waist gunner Don Courson remembers, when they came...
In an effort to hide from the furious enemy fighter planes, our wounded Liberty Lady slipped into a cover of clouds....
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....
It is mind boggling to imagine how the 8th Air Force was able to communicate to each base the complex plans for the combat missions ...
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,"...