Big Week: Six Days That Changed the Course of World War II (49 page)

Boeing B-17G Flying Fortresses of the Eighth Air Force 91st Bombardment Group over Germany in 1944.

Consolidated B-24 Liberators during the August 1, 1944, Operation Tidal Wave strike against Ploesti Romania, source of most of the Third Reich’s refined petroleum.

Boeing Flying Fortresses of the Eighth Air Force 91st Bombardment Group cross the coastline, outbound from their mission over Kiel, Germany, in January 1944, on the eve of Big Week.

Staff Sergeant Archibald “Archie” Mathies was a young Flying Fortress gunner from the coal patch near Finleyville, Pennsylvania. He flew with the Eighth Air Force 351st Bombardment Group and earned the Medal of Honor on the first day of Big Week for his heroism in saving fellow crew members.

Lieutenant William Robert “Bill” Lawley, a pilot with the Eighth Air Force 305th Bombardment Group, earned the Medal of Honor on Big Week’s Day One, when he successfully brought his Flying Fortress,
Cabin in the Sky
, home from Leipzig despite having been severely wounded.

Two of Big Week’s key operational commanders: General Jimmy Doolittle commanded the Eighth Air Force, while General Curtis LeMay led the 3rd Bombardment Division.

A B-17G Flying Fortress of the Eighth Air Force 3rd Bombardment Division, 452nd Bombardment Group opens its bomb bay to release its ordnance on the Third Reich

Consolidated B-24J Liberators of the Eighth Air Force 2nd Bombardment Division, 93rd Bombardment Group over Germany in early 1944.

Any landing that you walk away from is a good landing. This B-17G Flying Fortress of the Eighth Air Force 401st Bombardment Group crash landed, presumably at its home base at Deenethorpe, on February 20, 1944, after bombing the Erla Messerschmitt facilities at Leipzig on the first day of Big Week.

Manning their .50-caliber machine guns, waist gunners aboard a B-24 Liberator await an attack from the Luftwaffe.

Waist gunners aboard a B-17 Flying Fortress both eye a suspicious speck in the sky. The heavy, sheepskin-lined leather flying suits worn by gunners can be clearly seen.

A Fifteenth Air Force B-24J Liberator over the Alps. The high mountains presented a challenge for the bomber crews flying into the Reich from their bases in Italy.

Thick contrails flow from the engines of Eighth Air Force 324th Bombardment Squadron Flying Fortresses as they head home from Schweinfurt on February 24, 1944, the penultimate day of Big Week. The Flying Fortress at right center is one of several bombers named
Pist’l Packin’ Mama
after the popular song.