“Never Mrs.” was a shapely lass who adored the nose of Matt Williams’ “Liberator” four-engine bomber during the Second World War. Photo provided
1st Lt. Matt Williams of Englewood, Fla. flew his first combat mission piloting a B-24 “Liberator,” four-engine bomber over Nazi-occupied France during the D-Day Invasion, June 6, 1944, along the beaches of Normandy in World War II. Read the rest of this entry »
A B-17 like this one was similar to the one 2nd Lt. Leonard Pogue of Port Charlotte, Fla. was shot down in over Holland during World War II. Photo provided
This was like 2nd Lt. Carl Citron of North Port, Fla.’s B-24 bomber that attacked the German sub base along the coast of France. Photo provided
America’s airborne military might in Europe during World War II was hammered home by thousands of four-engine B-17 “Flying Fortress” and B-24, four-engine “Liberator” heavy bombers that dropped thousands of tons of bombs on Hitler’s “Fortress Europe” from 1943 until the end of the war two years later. By then, there was little left of most of Germany’s major cities except piles of bricks and rubble from bombing raids by Allied air forces. Read the rest of this entry »
Herb May of Port Charlotte, Fla. (squatting second from left). They were in the 466 Bomb Group, 786th Squadron, 8th Air Force during World War II. Photo provided
A tail gunner in a B-24 bomber dubbed “Wild Princess,” Staff Sgt. Herb May was on the first daylight mission flown by the U.S. Air Force over Berlin in February 1944. He had plenty of company — there were 800 heavy bombers in the armada that day attacking the German capital. Read the rest of this entry »
