|
End Game
For bomber crews, any daylight-bombing mission almost certainly meant combat. If
it werent the attentions of determined Luftwaffe fighter pilots, it would be an
aerial carpet of flak that welcomed the bombers en route to the target - and
again on the journey home. On most missions the Eighth Air Force aircrews had to
contend with both. Enduring up to ten hours of concentrated flying under cramped
conditions, extreme cold, with the constant noise and vibration produced by four
powerful engines, made every mission uncomfortable enough without being shot at.
But the USAAF aircrews confronted the odds - a one in three chance of completing
a 25-mission tour of operations - cheerfully and with gallant resolve. Playing a
major role in the great raids on Germany and other targets in occupied Europe
from early in 1944, equipped with the Consolidated B-24 Liberator, the USAAF
Second Air Division flew no fewer than 95,048 sorties. Based in Norfolk,
England, the crews also attacked targets far distant in Norway, Poland and
Rumania, unloading almost 100,000 tons of bombs and claiming over 1000 enemy
fighters shot down. |
