Air Force Museum
World War II
213 reading stories
Enter the experience →'26th Mission:' War Bond Tour
The USAAF selected the Memphis Belle and its crew to represent the strategic bombing effort on a widely-publicized war bond and morale-boosting tour with more than thirty stops across the country. Acclaimed in newspapers and greeted as heroes by large crowds, the famed aircraft and crew became national celebrities and strengthened public resolve for the war effort.
Read the story →'Bockscar': The Aircraft that Ended WWII
Bockscar's mission belongs to the final days of World War II, but no single aircraft or event explains Japan's surrender or the war's end. The Nagasaki mission took place three days after Hiroshima and one day after the Soviet Union entered the war against Japan. Japan announced its acceptance of surrender terms on August 15, followed by the formal ceremony aboard USS Missouri on September 2.
Read the story →'Combat Box': Bomber Formations
Formations were designed to protect heavy bombers against fighter attack and to concentrate the bomb pattern on the target. These formations evolved over time to counter enemy tactics and to adjust for the increasing numbers of heavy bombers involved.
Read the story →'Fat Man' Atomic Bomb
Fat Man was a plutonium implosion weapon whose compact machinery released destructive force on a scale that transformed war and international politics. Unlike the uranium weapon used at Hiroshima, Fat Man used an implosion system: conventional explosives compressed a plutonium core rapidly and symmetrically to produce a nuclear chain reaction. The design demanded new knowledge in physics, explosives, electrical timing, metallurgy, and high-altitude delivery.
Read the story →'Lady Be Good' Aircraft Engine
At 2:50 p.m. on April 4, 1943, 25 B-24Ds of the 376th Bomb Group took off from their AAF base at Soluch, Libya, for a high-altitude bombing attack against harbor facilities at Naples, Italy. All planes but one returned safely to Allied territory that night -- the one missing was the "Lady Be Good."
Read the story →'Lady Be Good' Aircraft Propeller
At 2:50 p.m. on April 4, 1943, 25 B-24Ds of the 376th Bomb Group took off from their AAF base at Soluch, Libya, for a high-altitude bombing attack against harbor facilities at Naples, Italy. All planes but one returned safely to Allied territory that night -- the one missing was the "Lady Be Good."
Read the story →'Lady Be Good' Stained Glass Window
At 2:50 p.m. on April 4, 1943, 25 B-24Ds of the 376th Bomb Group took off from their AAF base at Soluch, Libya, for a high-altitude bombing attack against harbor facilities at Naples, Italy. All planes but one returned safely to Allied territory that night -- the one missing was the "Lady Be Good."
Read the story →'Little Boy' Atomic Bomb
Little Boy was the uranium weapon used over Hiroshima, beginning the only wartime use of nuclear weapons in history. The weapon used a gun-type design that brought separate masses of uranium-235 together rapidly to create a nuclear chain reaction. Its design differed from the plutonium implosion weapon used three days later over Nagasaki.
Read the story →'Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress'
The 1944 documentary movie “Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress” increased the aircraft and crew’s already substantial fame. This unique film was the brainchild of legendary film director William Wyler. In 1942, Major Wyler went to England to film heavy bomber operations in Europe. He and his camera crew accompanied bomber crews on combat missions, sharing the same dangers—in April 1943, one of his cameramen, 46-year-old Lt Harold Tannenbaum, was killed on a mission over St. Nazaire, France.
Read the story →'My Gal Sal'
On June 27, 1942, the pilot of a B-17E named "My Gal Sal" was forced to make a belly-landing on the Greenland icecap during a flight from the United States to England. He made an excellent landing with the only damage to the plane being bent propeller blades.
Read the story →14th Air Force in China
The Fourteenth Air Force fought from bases in China, combining air combat with the difficult task of supplying an isolated theater. Created under Major General Claire Chennault in March 1943, the Fourteenth Air Force grew from the earlier China Air Task Force and the legacy of the American Volunteer Group. Its fighters and bombers attacked Japanese aircraft, shipping, railways, airfields, and supply lines across China and nearby regions.
Read the story →1st Lt. Aleda E. Lutz
Flight nurse Aleda Lutz helped carry wounded service members from combat areas to hospitals, saving lives by bringing medical care into the air-transport system. Aleda Lutz served as an Army flight nurse in the Mediterranean and European theaters. Flight nurses worked in transport aircraft that often lacked the equipment and comfort of a hospital, caring for patients through vibration, cold, altitude, and uncertain routes.
Read the story →1st Lt. Mary L. Hawkins
Flight nurse Mary Louise Hawkins was caring for 24 patients when their C-47 made a forced landing on Bellona Island on September 24, 1944. One patient suffered a severe airway injury. Hawkins improvised a suction tube using available equipment and kept him alive until help arrived 19 hours later. All her patients survived. She received the Distinguished Flying Cross. Her story brings the history of air evacuation down to a nurse’s preparation, resourcefulness, and sustained care.
Read the story →1st Lt. Suella Bernard
On March 22, 1945, two CG-4A gliders landed in a clearing near the bridgehead at Remagen, Germany, to evacuate 25 severely injured American and German casualties. Once the gliders were loaded, C-47 transports successfully snatched them from their landing site and towed them to a military hospital in France. In the second glider, 1st Lt. Suella V. Bernard, who had volunteered for the mission, cared for the wounded en route.
Read the story →2nd Lt. Elsie S. Ott
As the flight nurse on the first intercontinental air evacuation flight, 2nd Lt. Elsie S. Ott demonstrated the potential of air evacuation in January 1943. An Army nurse who had never flown in an airplane and had no air evacuation training, she successfully oversaw the movement of five seriously ill patients from India to Washington, D.C. This six-day trip would have normally taken three months by ship and ground transportation.
Read the story →75mm Cannon
During World War II, the AAF equipped its B-25G and B-25H medium bombers and some Douglas A-26B light bombers with a single-shot manually loaded 75mm cannon in the nose. Though only three of four rounds could be fired during a single attack run on a target, these aircraft caused considerable damage to enemy shipping and ground targets, particularly in the Pacific.
Read the story →A Mission Remembered
On Sept. 27, 1943, en route back to England after a raid against Emden, Germany, a 91st Bomb Group B-17 nicknamed "Local Girl" was set on fire by an Me 109 fighter. Eight of the 10 B-17 crew members bailed out, but only six survived. One of the survivors was the radio operator, Tech. Sgt. Orlo Natvig.
Read the story →AAF Prisoners of the Germans
American aircrew captured by Germany entered a camp system shaped by interrogation, forced movement, shortages, and the uneven protections of international law. Captured airmen were usually questioned before transfer to permanent camps such as the Stalag Luft system. Prisoners organized education, entertainment, record keeping, escape attempts, and mutual support while living with hunger, confinement, and uncertainty.
Read the story →AAF Prisoners of the Japanese
American airmen captured by Japanese forces often faced severe hunger, disease, forced labor, violence, and long separation from their families. Prisoners from the Philippines and other campaigns entered camps across the Japanese empire. Inadequate food and medicine, brutal discipline, transport in unmarked ships, and forced labor caused high death rates.
Read the story →AAF Training During WWII
One of the greatest accomplishments of the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II was the training of hundreds of thousands of flying and ground personnel for its air armada. Coming from all walks of life, they were molded into the most formidable Air Force the world had ever seen. Before the war, few of them knew much about aviation, but by the time Japan surrendered in 1945, they had become experts in their fields.
Read the story →Aeronca L-3B 'Grasshopper'
The L-3, originally designated O-58, was the military version of the Aeronca Model 65 Defender. This high-wing, light airplane could operate from small, hastily-built flying fields. The Army ordered the first O-58s in 1941 to test the use of light aircraft for liaison and observation missions in direct support of ground forces. Between 1941 and 1943, Aeronca Aircraft Corp. of Middletown, Ohio, built more than 1,400 of these aircraft for the Army -- 875 of them were L-3Bs.
Read the story →AFA Lifetime Achievement Award
The Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by the Air Force Association, recognizes not a single achievement, but a lifetime of work in the advancement of aerospace. In September 2009, the AFA presented this award to the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders.
Read the story →Aleutian Campaign
As a diversionary move in conjunction with their strike against Midway, the Japanese in June 1942 bombed Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Island chain and landed troops on Kiska and Attu islands. Here the Japanese remained, primarily in a defensive situation, to prevent any movement by American forces toward Japan through the Aleutians.
Read the story →America's Top Two Aces
The Pacific Theater of Operations produced the two highest scoring aces in American history, Maj. Richard I. Bong and Maj. Thomas B. McGuire Jr. Both men flew P-38 Lightnings in the Southwest Pacific, and each received the Medal of Honor in recognition of his courage and accomplishments.
Read the story →B-17 Sperry Top Turret
A B-17's top turret gave a gunner a field of fire above the bomber. It was part of a larger defensive arrangement in which gunners at different stations watched overlapping sectors. The turret shows how a heavy bomber became a shared workplace, with each crew member responsible for a different part of the aircraft's survival.
Read the story →Bataan Death March
After the surrender of Bataan, Japanese forces compelled tens of thousands of Filipino and American prisoners to march north under brutal conditions. Exhausted by months of combat, hunger, disease, and dwindling supplies, the defenders of Bataan surrendered on April 9, 1942. Japanese guards then forced prisoners along a route of roughly sixty-five miles toward rail transport and prison camps.
Read the story →Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge tested Allied air power when winter weather initially kept aircraft grounded and German forces achieved surprise. Germany's offensive through the Ardennes began under cloud, fog, and snow that limited Allied reconnaissance and close air support. Ground forces held key positions while commanders rushed reinforcements toward the expanding front.
Read the story →Beech AT-10 Wichita
In 1940, Beech Aircraft received a military contract for a multi-engine training aircraft constructed from non-essential war materiel. The AT-10’s basic structure is made entirely of plywood and contains only 97 pounds of metal, or 1.6 percent of its gross weight, excluding the propellers and engine. Modular construction allowed the wood and metal components to be easily constructed, shipped, and repaired.
Read the story →Beech AT-11 Kansan
The AT-11 was the standard U.S. Army Air Forces World War II bombing trainer; about 90 percent of the more than 45,000 USAAF bombardiers trained in AT-11s. Like the C-45 transport and the AT-7 navigation trainer, the Kansan was a military version of the Beechcraft Model 18 commercial transport. Modifications included a transparent nose, a bomb bay, internal bomb racks and provisions for flexible guns for gunnery training.
Read the story →Beech UC-43 Traveler
One of the most distinctive U.S. Army Air Forces aircraft was the UC-43 Traveler, a light transport biplane with negative or backward staggered wings. In June 1939 Beech delivered three examples of its popular commercial Model 17 Staggerwing aircraft for evaluation under the designation of YC-43. These were later assigned to the U.S. air attaches at the American Embassies in London, Paris and Rome.
Read the story →Bigger Raids, Bigger Losses and Crisis
In the second half of 1943, the USAAF continued to build up its heavy bomber forces. As it hit targets ever deeper in enemy territory, however, staggering losses threatened the entire concept of daylight strategic bombing.
Read the story →Black Thursday
The Schweinfurt mission known as Black Thursday revealed the unsustainable cost of unescorted daylight bombing deep inside Germany. On October 14, 1943, Eighth Air Force bombers struck ball-bearing factories at Schweinfurt. German fighters attacked repeatedly beyond the effective range of available Allied escorts, while flak and weather added to the danger.
Read the story →Blind Bombing
During the frequently cloudy conditions over Europe, USAAF bombers could not bomb visually. In these conditions, USAAF heavy bombers used a radar system called H2X and code-named “Mickey.” Image Mickey-equipped “pathfinder” aircraft gave formations the signal to bomb. On B-24 pathfinders, the H2X radome replaced the ball turret.
Read the story →Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress
The B-17 made long-range daylight bombing possible only through a vast system of crews, formation flying, maintenance, intelligence, airfields, and industrial production. The Flying Fortress combined four turbosupercharged engines, heavy defensive armament, and a high-altitude bombing role. Its name suggested self-protection, but no individual bomber operated alone: formations concentrated defensive fire, fighter escorts became essential, and ground crews kept damaged aircraft flying.
Read the story →Boeing B-29 Superfortress 'Bockscar'
Bockscar connects advanced long-range bomber engineering with the atomic attack on Nagasaki and the profound human consequences of nuclear war. The B-29 was designed for very long missions at high altitude, with pressurized crew compartments, remote-controlled gun turrets, and powerful engines. Bockscar was a Silverplate B-29 modified to carry an atomic weapon.
Read the story →Bombing Campaign Leaders
Three iconic USAAF generals—Carl Spaatz, Ira Eaker, and James “Jimmy” Doolittle—played key roles in leading the strategic bombing campaign in Europe. Gen. Carl Spaatz decorates a wounded Eighth Air Force Airman while he recovers in a hospital in August 1944.
Read the story →Brig. Gen. Clinton D. 'Casey' Vincent
Clinton D. Vincent was the second youngest general officer in Air Force history, earning his star at the age of 29. After only seven years of service in the armed forces, he rose to the temporary rank of brigadier general.
Read the story →Bristol Beaufighter
The Bristol Beaufighter combined two engines, a compact airframe, and heavy armament in an aircraft that served as both a night fighter and a strike aircraft. Its story belongs to the wartime expansion of flying in darkness and over the sea, where navigation, teamwork, and the ability to find a target mattered as much as speed.
Read the story →Bush and leather jacket
Flying clothing had to protect its wearer from cold, wind, and the demands of long hours on duty. A jacket also became a personal record of service. The fabric, leather, insignia, and signs of wear give a different view of wartime aviation from the polished aircraft nearby.
Read the story →Celebrities in Uniform
When the U.S. began re-arming for World War II, the vast majority of Americans believed it was not only a duty to serve their country, it was an honor. Among the millions who willingly went into military service were many celebrities from stage, screen, sports, radio and music. This display is devoted to a few of those notables.
Read the story →Cessna UC-78B Bobcat
Dubbed the "Bamboo Bomber" by the pilots who flew them, the UC-78 was a military version of the commercial Cessna T-50 light transport. Cessna first produced the wood and tubular steel, fabric-covered T-50 in 1939 for the civilian market. In 1940 the U.S. Army Air Corps ordered them under the designation AT-8 as multi-engine advanced trainers.
Read the story →Col. Bernt Balchen
Col. Bernt Balchen was America's greatest Arctic expert in modern times. Born in Norway in 1899, he served as a cavalryman in the Finnish Army against the Russians in World War I before becoming a pilot in the Norwegian Naval Air Force in 1921 where he acquired his initial Arctic flying experience. In 1925 he was a pilot on the Amundsen-Ellsworth Relief Expedition to Spitzbergen; the next year he was a member of the Amundsen-Ellsworth-Nobile Arctic Expedition.
Read the story →Col. Lew Sanders A-2 Jacket
This is the A-2 flying jacket worn by the donor, Col. (Ret.) Lew Sanders, when he reportedly became the first person in U.S. uniform to shoot down an enemy aircraft in World War II. Flying a P-36 of the 46th Fighter Squadron, he was one of a handful of USAAF pilots to get off the ground during the Pearl Harbor attack.
Read the story →Col. Neel E. Kearby: Pacific Thunderbolt Ace
Neel Kearby became one of the leading American fighter aces in the Southwest Pacific while flying the P-47 Thunderbolt. Colonel Neel Kearby commanded the 348th Fighter Group and adapted the heavy, long-range P-47 to combat over New Guinea. On October 11, 1943, he was credited with six victories during one mission and received the Medal of Honor.
Read the story →Combat Aircraft to Museum Artifact
After the bond tour, the Memphis Belle went to MacDill Army Air Field, Florida, to be used for training. At war’s end, it was stored at Altus Army Airfield, Oklahoma, with other surplus bombers awaiting scrapping.
Read the story →Combat Pacific
For six months following the Pearl Harbor disaster, the outnumbered and ill-supplied Allied forces in the Pacific could do little more than attempt to delay the Japanese advance. Australia was a key stronghold for the buildup of Allied forces, but in early 1942 the last Allied outpost north of Australia was Port Moresby on the southern coast of New Guinea.
Read the story →Combined Bomber Offensive
In the summer of 1943, the daytime American and nighttime British bombing campaigns became loosely aligned as the “Combined Bomber Offensive.” This plan formally established “around the clock” bombing of the enemy. Until D-Day in 1944, the priority targets were Germany’s fighter force and its ball-bearing and oil industries.
Read the story →Consolidated B-24D Liberator
The B-24 was employed in operations in every combat theater during World War II. Because of its great range, it was particularly suited for such missions as the famous raid from North Africa against the oil industry at Ploesti, Rumania, on Aug. 1, 1943. This feature also made the airplane suitable for long over-water missions in the Pacific Theater.
Read the story →Consolidated OA-10 Catalina
The OA-10 Catalina combined long endurance with the ability to operate from water, supporting patrol, rescue, and transport across the Pacific. The Army Air Forces designation OA-10 applied to versions of the Consolidated Catalina amphibian. Its boat-shaped hull and wing-mounted floats allowed operation from sheltered water where a conventional runway was unavailable.
Read the story →Corregidor Recaptured
American forces landed on Mindoro on Dec. 15, 1944, and on Jan. 9, 1945, U.S. troops invaded Luzon. By this time, Allied airpower had gained aerial supremacy. Except for suicide attacks on ships by Kamikaze aircraft and other sporadic air attacks, little enemy opposition in the air was encountered throughout the remainder of the Philippine campaign.
Read the story →Crippling the Nazi War Machine
At great sacrifice, the US Army Air Forces’ (USAAF) daylight strategic bombing campaign played a critical role in winning the war in Europe. Strategic bombing is a strategy to destroy a country’s ability or will to fight by attacking its homeland from the air. Airpower advocates believed that strategic bombing could win wars—at the start of World War II, however, the theory was unproven.
Read the story →Crossing the Rhine
In February 1945 the Allies forged eastward toward the Rhine River, and on March 7 made the first crossing via the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen. To the north, ground troops crossed the Rhine at Wesel on the night of March 23-24, supported the following morning by an aerial invasion of more than 2,800 U.S. and British gliders and paratroop transports.
Read the story →Culver PQ-14B
In August 1940 the U.S. Army Air Corps joined in the development of radio-controlled target aircraft for training anti-aircraft artillery gunners. These unmanned targets would be controlled by radio signals from the ground or a "mother" aircraft, but would have provisions for carrying a pilot for ferry flights or check flights. The Culver Aircraft Corp.
Read the story →Curtiss AT-9 Jeep
The AT-9 advanced trainer was used to bridge the gap between single-engine trainers and twin-engine combat aircraft. The prototype first flew in 1941, and the production version entered service in 1942. The prototype had a fabric-covered steel tube fuselage and fabric-covered wings, but production AT-9s were of stressed metal skin construction.
Read the story →Curtiss C-46D Commando
The C-46 was developed from the new and unproven commercial aircraft design, the CW-20, which first flew in March 1940. Deliveries of AAF C-46s began in July 1942 for the Air Transport Command and Troop Carrier Command. During World War II, the USAAF accepted 3,144 C-46s for hauling cargo and personnel and for towing gliders.
Read the story →Curtiss P-36A Hawk
At Pearl Harbor, the P-36 represented an earlier generation of American fighter design pressed into combat at the opening of the Pacific War. The Curtiss P-36A was a modern all-metal fighter when it entered Army Air Corps service in the late 1930s, but aviation technology was changing so quickly that it was already being overtaken by newer types when the United States entered World War II.
Read the story →Curtiss P-40E Warhawk
The P-40 was the United States' best fighter available in large numbers when World War II began. P-40s engaged Japanese aircraft at Pearl Harbor and in the Philippines in December 1941. They also served with the famed Flying Tigers in China in 1942, and in North Africa in 1943 with the 99th Fighter Squadron, the first African American U.S. fighter unit.
Read the story →Cushman Airborne Scooter
In the late stages of the war in Europe, Allied paratroopers used scooters like this one to maintain contact between units, increase their mobility and haul small loads. The Cushman Motor Works designed the Model 53 Airborne Scooter to be airdropped by parachute or carried by glider, and it had a hitch to pull a model M3A4 general-purpose utility cart.
Read the story →D-Day Paratrooper
Airborne troops carried the invasion inland before dawn, relying on transport crews, pathfinders, gliders, and equipment designed for a dangerous night drop. C-47 formations crossed the Normandy coast carrying American paratroopers toward drop zones behind the beaches. Darkness, cloud, anti-aircraft fire, and evasive action scattered many units, forcing small groups to improvise while seeking roads, bridges, and strongpoints.
Read the story →D-Day Support
Allied air power prepared, protected, and supplied the Normandy landings through reconnaissance, bombardment, fighter cover, transport, and interdiction. Before D-Day, aircraft photographed beaches and defenses, attacked railways and bridges, and sought to isolate the invasion area. During the landings, fighters and bombers protected ships and troops while transports carried airborne forces into Normandy.
Read the story →Day of Infamy: The Pearl Harbor Attack
The attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States directly into World War II and turned a distant conflict into an immediate national emergency. Japanese carrier aircraft attacked military installations across Oahu in two waves. Battleships in the harbor became the most visible targets, but airfields were struck as well to prevent American aircraft from interfering with the attack.
Read the story →De Havilland DH 98 Mosquito
The famous British Mosquito – known to many as "Mossie" – was a versatile aircraft used extensively during World War II. Constructed primarily of plywood with a balsa wood core, it had excellent speed, altitude and range. First flown on November 25, 1940, the Mosquito entered production in mid-1941 and was produced until well after the end of the war.
Read the story →Deadly Skies over Europe
The Luftwaffe (German Air Force) built a sophisticated defense system to counter the USAAF strategic bombing offensive. Enemy fighters and antiaircraft guns (also called “flak”) took a devastating toll. The USAAF lost more than 8,000 heavy bombers—each of which typically carried ten crewmen—in combat during the strategic bombing campaign over Europe.
Read the story →Demobilization and Reorganization
At the time of the Japanese surrender ending World War II, the AAF was the most powerful air force in the world with a strength of some 64,000 planes, of which two-thirds were combat aircraft. Secure in the monopoly of the atomic bomb, the U.S. demobilized quickly, withdrawing troops from around the world except for relatively small forces stationed in Germany and Japan and in a few strategic locations such as Okinawa.
Read the story →Disney Pins on Wings
Walt Disney Productions created approximately 1,200 designs during World War II for both American and Allied military units. Designs were also created for other organizations such as civil defense and war industries. All of this work was done by the studio free-of-charge as a donation to the war effort.
Read the story →Disney Pins on Wings Exhibit
Walt Disney artists created hundreds of military insignia that combined popular characters with unit identity and wartime purpose. Military units requested designs that could make aircraft, jackets, signs, and paperwork immediately recognizable. Disney artists supplied characters ranging from familiar animated figures to newly invented animals and symbols, often working without charge to the services.
Read the story →Doolittle Raid Crews
Sixteen volunteer crews carried the Doolittle Raid from an aircraft carrier toward Japan, then faced long flights and uncertain landings across China. The raid required Army aircrews to master a launch from USS Hornet in B-25 bombers modified for extra range. Discovery by a Japanese patrol vessel forced the aircraft to take off earlier than planned, increasing the distance to intended landing areas in China.
Read the story →Doolittle Raiders'' Congressional Gold Medal
On May 23, 2014, President Barack Obama signed Public Law 113-106 awarding the Congressional Gold Medal -- the highest civilian recognition Congress can bestow -- to the 80 members of the Doolittle Tokyo Raid in recognition of their service. The 113th Congress awarded this medal to the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders for their “outstanding heroism, valor, skill, and service to the United States” during the famous raid on Japan on April 18, 1942.
Read the story →Doolittle Raiders'' Goblets
These 80 silver goblets commemorate the 80 men who flew the Doolittle Raid against Japan in April 1942. Over the years, these goblets have taken a highly symbolic place in the history of military aviation.
Read the story →Doolittle Tokyo Raiders
The Doolittle Raid joined Army bombers, a Navy carrier, volunteer crews, and Chinese assistance in a mission whose psychological effect outweighed its physical damage. Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle led sixteen B-25 crews from the carrier Hornet toward targets in Japan. Discovery by a patrol vessel forced an early launch, leaving the aircraft farther from their intended landing fields in China than planned.
Read the story →Douglas A-20G Havoc
Flown by the Allies in the Pacific, the Middle East, North Africa, Europe and Russia, the versatile A-20 went through many variants. The A-20G, which reached combat in 1943, was produced in larger numbers than any other model. By the time production ended in September 1944, American factories had built 2,850 "solid nose" A-20G models.
Read the story →Douglas A-24
German success with dive bombers in Poland and France convinced the U.S. Army to acquire its own dive bombers, and in 1941 the Army Air Corps ordered the Douglas Dauntless, which was already in production for the U.S. Navy. Designated the A-24, it came without the tail hook used for carrier landings, and a pneumatic line replaced the solid tail wheel on some of them.
Read the story →Douglas B-18 Bolo
The Douglas Aircraft Co. developed the B-18 to replace the Martin B-10 as the U.S. Army Air Corps' standard bomber. Based on the Douglas DC-2 commercial transport, the prototype B-18 competed with the Martin 146 (an improved B-10) and the four-engine Boeing 299, forerunner of the B-17, at the Air Corps bombing trials at Wright Field in 1935.
Read the story →Douglas C-47D Skytrain
The C-47 carried paratroopers, cargo, wounded personnel, and essential supplies, making air mobility a central part of Allied operations. Developed from the civilian DC-3, the military C-47 became one of the most useful transport aircraft of the war. It towed gliders, dropped paratroopers, delivered supplies, moved personnel, and evacuated casualties across widely separated theaters.
Read the story →Edward C. Gleed Flying Jacket
Edward C. Gleed's flying jacket represents the pilots, ground crews, and support personnel of the 332nd Fighter Group. Edward Gleed served as operations officer for the 332nd Fighter Group, the combat organization most closely associated with the Tuskegee Airmen. A flying jacket carried practical value in an unheated cockpit, but names, insignia, and wear also turned it into a personal record of service.
Read the story →Eighth Air Force in England
In 1942 and early 1943, while the British Royal Air Force (RAF) conducted saturation bombing at night, the USAAF was trying to prove the validity of daytime precision bombing with its small bomber force in England. For the first year, Eighth Air Force heavy bombers attacked submarine bases and production facilities, along with industrial and military targets in German-occupied France.
Read the story →Engineer Aviation Battalions
In 1939 Gen. Hap Arnold negotiated with the U.S. Army Chief of Engineers for a special engineer unit to work with the Air Corps. The original concept envisioned a small group of skilled construction and engineer troops, closely trained alongside air units, with the ability to repair bomb damaged airfields, to camouflage airfields and if necessary, to defend airfields.
Read the story →Enlisted Pilots: 1912-1945
This was the rebuke to Lt. Frank P. Lahm's message announcing that one of the two new aviators he had trained was a corporal. Yet in USAF history about 4,150 pilots trained and flew not as commissioned officers but as enlisted men -- almost 3,000 rated pilots and nearly 1,150 liaison pilots.
Read the story →Epilogue: Sacrifice and Victory
Starting with only a theory and a handful of aircraft, the USAAF faced early setbacks and devastating losses. Still, heavy bomber crews time and time again resolutely fought through enemy defenses to hit their targets. With their courage and sacrifice, the USAAF created a massive, unstoppable bomber force that crippled the enemy and played a decisive role in defeating Nazi Germany.
Read the story →Escape and Evasion Accounts
After bombing Japan on April 18, 1942, all but one of the sixteen B-25 Doolittle Raid crews crashed or bailed out in China (The remaining crew landed in the USSR, and they successfully escaped internment in 1943). Thanks to the generous help of the Chinese people, 64 of the 75 crewmembers evaded capture.
Read the story →Escape Routes and the Resistance
Escape lines moved stranded Allied airmen through occupied Europe using safe houses, false identities, guides, and carefully protected routes. Resistance members hid downed airmen, taught them cover stories, supplied civilian clothing, and passed them from one contact to another. Some routes crossed the Pyrenees into Spain; others moved toward coastlines or neutral borders.
Read the story →Escort Excellence
The 332nd Fighter Group's bomber-escort record challenged racist claims while demonstrating the discipline required to protect formations over long missions. Escort fighters had to remain close enough to protect bombers while resisting the temptation to pursue every enemy aircraft. The 332nd Fighter Group, flying red-tailed P-47s and P-51s, became known for staying with the bombers assigned to them.
Read the story →Fairchild Model 24-C8F
This Fairchild Model 24 served with the Civil Air Patrol at Rehoboth, Delaware, during the Second World War. Civilian volunteers brought their own aircraft and flying experience into patrol and rescue work. Its enclosed cabin and practical design reveal a quieter side of wartime aviation, far from the large bombers and fast fighters.
Read the story →Fairchild Model 24-C8F (UC-61J)
The Model 24 was a civilian aircraft first produced in 1932. Model 24s were built with a variety of in-line or radial air-cooled engines and different passenger-carrying capacities. During World War II more than 1,000 Model 24s were produced for the military under the designation UC-61, but many civilian models flew for the Civil Air Patrol.
Read the story →Fifteenth Air Force—Strategic Bombing from Italy
In September 1943, the USAAF formed the Fifteenth Air Force, uniting its Mediterranean heavy bomber forces together at bases in southern Italy. The USAAF could now mount major strategic raids in southern and eastern Europe, creating even more pressure on the Luftwaffe defense.
Read the story →First AAF Ace of WWII
Lieutenant Boyd D. Wagner became the first Army Air Forces ace of World War II while defending the Philippines and flying hazardous missions from Java. Boyd Wagner entered the war with the 17th Pursuit Squadron in the Philippines. Flying the P-40, he attacked Japanese aircraft in the air and on the ground while American and Filipino forces fought with shrinking supplies and few replacements.
Read the story →Flak 36 88mm Multipurpose Gun
The versatile 88mm cannon was Germany’s main heavy antiaircraft—or “flak”—gun during World War II. When an 88mm projectile exploded at altitude, it sent out jagged metal fragments that tore through nearby aircraft. It also left a characteristic black cloud hanging in the sky.
Read the story →Flakvierling 38 20mm Antiaircraft Gun
The Flakvierling combined four 20 mm barrels in an antiaircraft mounting. It represents the close-range ground defenses faced by low-flying aircraft in the Second World War. Its presence alongside aircraft brings the danger from the ground into a story often remembered mainly through fighter combat.
Read the story →Flight Nurse's Creed
The Flight Nurse's Creed first appeared in a speech given by Major General David Grant, the Air Surgeon of the U.S. Army Air Forces, on November 26, 1943, to the seventh graduating class. It is now my privilege to lift this lamp of hope and faith and courage in my profession to heights not known by her in her time.
Read the story →Focke-Achgelis Fa 330 Sandpiper
The Fa 330 rotary wing kite, built in Germany during World War II, operated on the principle of the autogyro. It provided an elevated observation platform for one man while being towed behind a surfaced submarine. While aloft, the pilot kept in contact with the submarine by telephone.
Read the story →Focke-Achgelis Fa-330 Sandpiper
The Fa 330 rotary wing kite, built in Germany during World War II, operated on the principle of the autogyro. It provided an elevated observation platform for one man while being towed behind a surfaced submarine. While aloft, the pilot kept in contact with the submarine by telephone.
Read the story →Focke-Wulf Fw 190D-9
The Fw 190, one of Germany's best fighter airplanes of World War II, made its first flight on June 1, 1939. It appeared in action over northwestern France in September 1941 and rapidly proved its superiority over the Mark V Spitfire, Britain's best fighter of that time.
Read the story →Fragmentation Bomb Cluster M-1
A cluster brought several smaller bombs together for carriage and release from an aircraft. This exhibit belongs to the history of air-delivered weapons and the industrial systems that produced them. It also connects the machinery of wartime flight with its consequences for people and places on the ground.
Read the story →French 'Forty and Eight' Railroad Car
These cars received their names because they could carry 40 men or eight horses, as was clearly painted on each boxcar. During World War II, the little-changed "forty and eight" boxcars still transported supplies and troops to the front, but they also returned to Germany with new cargoes. Many Allied prisoners of war rode to German POW camps in these boxcars -- sometimes with as many as 90 men forced into each boxcar.
Read the story →Gen. Daniel 'Chappie' James Jr.
Daniel 'Chappie' James Jr. began military flying with the Tuskegee Airmen and later became the first Black American four-star general. James trained at Tuskegee during World War II and served as an instructor rather than entering combat before the war ended. He later flew combat missions in Korea and Southeast Asia and held increasingly senior command positions.
Read the story →German 'Fritz X' Guided Bomb
The radio-guided Fritz X armor-piercing bomb was an early precision weapon designed to strike heavily protected ships. Released from a bomber at altitude, Fritz X could be steered by an operator who watched flares on the weapon and transmitted course corrections by radio. Its design sought to overcome the difficulty of hitting a moving ship with an unguided bomb.
Read the story →German 250-kg Bomb
This German bomb belongs to the material history of the Second World War's air campaigns. A bomb's size represented a demand on the aircraft carrying it, and its use tied aircraft design to strategy and to destruction on the ground. The surrounding aircraft and crew exhibits place the object within that wider history.
Read the story →German BK-5 50mm Cannon
The BK-5 was an adaptation of a tank gun and was intended primarily for use against Allied heavy bombers. Its magazine held 22 rounds, and the gun had a rate of 45 rounds per minute. BK-5 cannon were installed in some Me 410 twin-engine interceptors and experimentally in the Me 262 fighter, but the war ended before testing with the latter aircraft could be completed.
Read the story →Glider Pilot Casualties
Glider pilots suffered heavy combat losses as did the pilots of tow planes and the airborne troops which the gliders carried. They were towed in flimsy, noisy, unarmed, fabric-covered gliders at about 130 mph at the end of a 300-foot, 1-inch nylon rope in air made turbulent by the tow planes. They sometimes crash-landed at night in small fields behind enemy lines, carrying troops and/or cargo including jeeps and artillery.
Read the story →Glider Pilot Training
Training time varied but consisted of daylight flying in light aircraft practicing unpowered gliding and "dead stick" landings; day and night flying in training gliders, unpowered light aircraft or sailplanes; advanced training in CG-4A combat gliders; and finally tactical training. Most graduates then were given overseas assignments with troop carrier units.
Read the story →Glider Pilots in Combat
During the March 1945 airborne crossing of Germany's Rhine River, about 40 pilots from the 435th Troop Carrier Group defended a crossroad against several hundred infantrymen and two tanks in what was called "The Battle of Burp Gun Corner." Glider pilots had the reputation of being cocky and tough and weren't bashful about letting people know that the "G" on their pilot wings stood for "guts." USAAF glider pilots, in concert with U.S.
Read the story →Glider Pilots: Silent Wings
The success of German glider-borne forces early in World War II catapulted the Air Corps into a glider program in February 1941. Glider pilots were unique in that they had no parachutes, no motors and no second chances. In December 1941, plans called for training 1,000 AAF glider pilots, but eventually about 5,500 received their wings.
Read the story →Gunners
US Army Air Forces gunners defended B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator bombers against fighter attacks with machine guns aimed by hand (“flexible guns”) and electrically-powered gun turrets. Typically, gunners made up half of a bomber crew, manning a top turret, ball turret, two waist guns, and a tail turret. Some other crewmembers also operated defensive guns as a secondary duty.
Read the story →Heavy Bomber 'Firsts'
The Suzy-Q, a 19^{th} BG B-17E, was the first USAAF heavy bomber to complete 25 missions and return to the US. It flew combat missions early in the war in the Pacific from February-October 1942, when it returned to the US for a war bond tour.
Read the story →Integration of the USAF
Executive Order 9981 directed equality of treatment and opportunity in the armed forces, beginning a difficult institutional transformation after the war. African American service members had fought within a segregated military during World War II. Their performance, the activism of veterans and civil-rights organizations, political pressure, and the contradiction between wartime claims and discriminatory practice made segregation increasingly indefensible.
Read the story →Interstate L-6 'Grasshopper'
The Interstate Co. entered the aviation industry in 1940 with the S-1B "Cadet," a tandem seat liaison airplane. When the United States entered World War II, the U.S. Army Air Forces contracted with Interstate for 250 S-1B aircraft, designating the prototype as the XO-63. It was the last airplane to use the "O" (for observation) designation.
Read the story →Japan Surrenders
Japan's surrender ended World War II after years of immense destruction across Asia, Europe, Africa, the Atlantic, and the Pacific. Emperor Hirohito announced Japan's acceptance of the Allied terms on August 15, 1945. The formal surrender ceremony followed aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2.
Read the story →Junkers Ju 88D-1/Trop
The German Ju 88 was one of the most versatile airplanes of World War II. It operated in nearly every kind of combat role, including dive bomber, level bomber, night fighter, day interceptor, photographic reconnaissance, tank destroyer and even as an unpiloted missile. The Ju 88 made its first flight on Dec. 21, 1936, and hundreds remained in use when the war ended in 1945.
Read the story →Junkers Jumo 004 Turbojet
The Jumo 004 powered the first operational jet fighters and revealed both the promise and the material limits of early turbojet technology. Air entered the engine, passed through an axial compressor, mixed with fuel in combustion chambers, and expanded through a turbine to create thrust. The design enabled speeds beyond those of most piston-engine fighters.
Read the story →Kawanishi N1K2-Ja Shiden Kai (George)
The N1K2-Ja Shiden Kai (Japanese for "Violet Lightning--Improved") was the best fighter used in significant numbers by the Japanese Navy during World War II. Known by the Allies as the "George," this maneuverable, heavily-armed fighter was a formidable opponent in the closing months of the war.
Read the story →Laister-Kauffmann TG-4A
Laister-Kauffmann built the TG-4A in response to an urgent U.S. Army Air Forces requirement for a glider to train assault glider pilots. The TG-4A was a military version of the Laister-Kauffmann Model LK-10 Yankee Doodle two-seat soaring glider. Laister-Kauffmann delivered the first prototype XTG-4 in late December 1941; the company delivered the first production aircraft in July 1942 and completed the last of 150 TG-4As in June 1943.
Read the story →Legacy of Equality
When the U.S. Air Force became a separate service in 1947, it benefited directly from the experience of the Tuskegee Airmen. The USAF was the first service to erase the color line, thanks largely to the pioneering efforts and courageous legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen. In April 2006, the U.S. Congress voted to award the Tuskegee Airmen a Congressional Gold Medal, the most prestigious award Congress can give to civilians.
Read the story →Liaison Pilots
World War II produced another group of enlisted pilots, whose wings bore an "L" in the center, to fly light single-engine liaison aircraft. Included were many enlisted aviation students who washed out of pilot training after having soloed and were given the opportunity to become liaison pilots.
Read the story →Life at 25,000 Feet
At 25,000 feet, a bomber crew faced an environment that could be dangerous even before enemy fighters or antiaircraft fire appeared. Thin air, intense cold, noise, and vibration turned a long mission into a test of endurance. Oxygen equipment, heated clothing, and cooperation between crew members were essential parts of the aircraft's fighting capability.
Read the story →Link Trainer
The Link Trainer taught instrument flying safely on the ground and helped turn mass recruitment into an effective wartime air force. Built around pneumatic controls, bellows, instruments, and a small enclosed cockpit, the Link Trainer reproduced the movements and instrument indications of an airplane. An instructor could give a student a route and introduce weather or navigation problems without risking an aircraft or crew.
Read the story →Lockheed P-38L Lightning
The P-38 Lightning is immediately recognizable by its twin booms and central cockpit. Two engines gave it a distinctive configuration, while its range made it especially valuable across the enormous distances of the Pacific. The aircraft connects the engineering of a high-performance fighter with the practical problem of finding, reaching, and returning from a distant mission.
Read the story →Lt. Jack A. Sims
Knapsack, knife and sheath, ammo clips with case for .45-cal Colt pistol, first aid kit, helmet and goggles, parachute "D" ring, Mae West life vest, canteen and A-2 flying jacket worn or carried by Lt. Jack A. Sims on the Tokyo Raid. Sims later wore the A-2 jacket during a combat tour in North Africa in 1943; the insignia is that of the 89th Recon Squadron which was redesignated as the 432nd Bomb Squadron in April 1942.
Read the story →Lt. Lloyd 'Scotty' Hathcock
Captured in Italy during the summer of 1944, Lt. (later Maj.) Lloyd "Scotty" Hathcock spent the rest of the war in Stalag Luft III and Stalag VII-A prison camps. After the war, Hathcock stayed in the service and helped to desegregate the U.S. Air Force.
Read the story →Lt. Phillip Rasmussen
Second Lieutenant Philip Rasmussen was one of the American pilots who reached the air during the attack on Pearl Harbor. When Japanese aircraft struck Oahu, Philip Rasmussen ran to the flight line at Wheeler Field and took off in a P-36 while still wearing pajamas beneath his flight gear. He joined three other pilots and entered a confused fight against a much larger attacking force.
Read the story →M29 Cluster Bomb
The 415-pound M29 cluster bomb was used during World War II against enemy troops, unarmored vehicles and artillery. Typically carried by fighters and medium bombers, the M29 was dropped from between 2,000 and 3,000 feet. After release, the outer seal separated to dispense 90 4-pound fragmentation bomblets over a relatively wide area.
Read the story →M5 Bomb Trailer
The M5 bomb trailer is a 2-1/2 ton capacity vehicle used during World War II for transporting bombs from munitions storage areas to the aircraft for loading. Up to six M5s can be towed in a train. The trailer weighs 7,200 pounds when fully loaded.
Read the story →Macchi MC.200 Saetta
Developed in the mid-1930s for the Regia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force), the Saetta was one of its principal fighters during World War II. The prototype made its first flight in December 1937, and by Italy's entry into WWII in June 1940, some 156 were in service. A total of 1,151 were produced.
Read the story →Maj. Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band
Glenn Miller brought one of America's best-known bands into uniform and reshaped military music for radio, morale, and a global audience. Miller left a successful civilian orchestra to join the Army Air Forces. His service band combined marching functions with swing arrangements, broadcasts, recordings, and live performances for service members in the United States and Europe.
Read the story →Makeshift Uniform
This mannequin depicts some of the makeshift characteristics of the USAAF personnel fighting on the ground. He is wearing a mismatched uniform that is a combination of a khaki service shirt and the more durable blue denim work pants. Others went into combat wearing work or flying coveralls or their khaki service uniform.
Read the story →Martin B-26G Marauder
Although the Marauder did not make its first flight until Nov. 25, 1940, its design showed such promise that the Air Corps ordered 1,131 B-26s in September 1940. The B-26 began flying combat missions in the Southwest Pacific in the spring of 1942, but most were subsequently assigned to Europe and the Mediterranean.
Read the story →Mechanics and Bomb Leaders
Bomber crews’ lives depended on the skill and diligence of their ground crews. Ground crews constantly maintained the large, complex bombers, repaired battle damage, and performed modifications to make the aircraft more effective. Bomb loaders in the ordnance section had the dangerous duty of preparing the bombers’ deadly payload. They assembled, transported, and put bombs in the aircraft.
Read the story →Memphis Belle Crew
The Memphis Belle and its crew became public symbols of the danger faced by heavy-bomber units over Europe. Assigned to the 91st Bomb Group in England, the Memphis Belle completed twenty-five missions during the early American daylight bombing campaign. At that stage of the war, the chance that an aircraft and crew would finish a complete combat tour was small.
Read the story →Messerschmitt Bf 109G-10
The Messerschmitt Bf 109 began as an entry by the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke in a Luftwaffe (German Air Force) fighter competition in the early 1930s. Willy Messerschmitt's creation incorporated one of the most advanced aerodynamic designs at the time, with retractable landing gear, an enclosed cockpit, automatic slats, cantilever wings and stressed skin construction. During the trials, the Bf 109 clearly outperformed the larger and heavier favorite, Heinkel's He 112.
Read the story →Messerschmitt Me 163B Komet
The rocket-powered Me 163 climbed and accelerated rapidly but offered little endurance and exposed pilots to unusual hazards. The Me 163 used volatile propellants that produced remarkable performance for a short intercept. After the powered climb, the pilot attacked bombers and then glided back to land on a skid.
Read the story →Messerschmitt Me 262A Schwalbe
The Me 262 was the first operational jet fighter, offering extraordinary speed but arriving within a collapsing German war system that limited its impact. Powered by two turbojet engines, the Me 262 could fly much faster than Allied piston-engine fighters. Its swept wings, engine installation, and high speed made it one of the clearest signs that military aviation was entering a new technical era.
Read the story →Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero
The Allies' main opponent in the Pacific air war, the Zero is the most famous symbol of Japanese air power during World War II. The fighter first flew in April 1939, and Mitsubishi, Nakajima, Hitachi and the Japanese navy produced 10,815 Zeros from 1940-1945. Zeros were produced in greater number than any other aircraft. Its distinctive design and historical impact make the Zero an important machine in air power history.
Read the story →Mk 25 Mine
A naval mine used from the air joined aviation to the war at sea. Aircraft could carry a mining campaign into waters that surface vessels could not readily approach. The object points toward a broader history of supply routes, harbors, and the effort to interrupt an opponent's movement.
Read the story →Mk XIII Aerial Torpedo
The Mk XIII was the United States' standard aerial torpedo during the Second World War. Army as well as Navy aircrews tried to use it against ships. Its early limitations made an already dangerous mission more difficult, and the Army Air Forces eventually favored other methods of attacking shipping.
Read the story →New Guinea Blockade
Following their loss of Buna and Gona during the Papuan campaign, the enemy in New Guinea attempted to reinforce Lae on the Huon Gulf, but failed. On March 1, 1943, a B-24 spotted an enemy naval convoy and in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea that followed, planes of the 5th Air Force and the Royal Australian Air Force sunk 12 of the 16 ships in the convoy.
Read the story →Ninth/Twelfth Air Force in the Mediterranean
Until mid-1943, the USAAF’s small heavy bomber force in the Mediterranean primarily attacked enemy ports, airfields, and ships to help defeat enemy ground forces in North Africa and prepare for the invasion of Sicily. Twelfth Air Force B-17 All-American was rammed by a German fighter while bombing enemy supply lines in North Africa. Remarkably, this aircraft made it back to base.
Read the story →Noorduyn UC-64A Norseman
Manufactured by the Noorduyn Aviation Ltd., Montreal, Canada, the UC-64A was a 10-place, single-engine utility transport. First flown in 1935, the Norseman was designed for rugged Canadian bush country operations; it could be equipped with wheels, floats or skis. Before World War II, Noorduyn delivered 69 to the Royal Canadian Air Force as trainers. After service testing seven YC-64s, the U.S. Army Air Forces adopted the aircraft in 1942 as a light transport.
Read the story →North American A-36A Mustang
Also nicknamed the "Apache” or “Invader," the A-36A dive bomber was the first US Army Air Forces version of the Mustang, officially developed for Britain in 1940. The first A-36 flew in September 1942, and North American Aviation completed production of 500 A-36As in March 1943.
Read the story →North American B-25B Mitchell
The B-25 Mitchell became one of the war's most adaptable medium bombers and the aircraft chosen for the first American air attack on the Japanese home islands. Sixteen B-25Bs launched from USS Hornet on April 18, 1942. A medium land-based bomber had never been intended to operate from a carrier, so crews practiced extremely short takeoffs and the aircraft were modified for the one-way mission.
Read the story →North American P-51D Mustang
The P-51D Mustang gave Allied air forces the range and performance needed to escort bombers deep into Germany and contest control of the air. Pairing the Mustang airframe with the Packard-built Merlin engine produced strong high-altitude performance. External fuel tanks extended its reach, allowing fighter groups to accompany bombers far beyond the radius of earlier escorts.
Read the story →Northrop P-61C Black Widow
The heavily-armed Black Widow was the United States' first aircraft specifically designed as a night-fighter. The P-61 carried radar equipment in its nose that enabled its crew of two or three to locate enemy aircraft in total darkness and fly into proper position to attack.
Read the story →Packard V-1650 Merlin
The V-1650 liquid-cooled engine was the U.S. version of the famous British Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, which powered the Spitfire and Hurricane fighters during the Battle of Britain in 1940. In September 1940 the Packard Co. agreed to build the Merlin engine for both the American and the British governments, and adapted it for American mass-production methods.
Read the story →Papua
In July 1942 enemy troops on the Papuan peninsula on the northeast coast of New Guinea began an advance across the Owen Stanley Mountains against Port Moresby. Exhausted Australian ground forces, reinforced by troops flown to the scene, halted the enemy less than 30 miles from Port Moresby and then took the offensive. By January 1943, the Allies had eliminated all organized enemy resistance on Papua.
Read the story →Piper L-4A 'Grasshopper'
The L-4A, originally designated the O-59, was the military version of the famous Piper J3 Cub. The U.S. Army Air Forces ordered the first O-59s in 1941 for tests in conjunction with its growing interest in the use of light aircraft for liaison and observation duties in direct support of ground forces. Between 1941 and 1945, the USAAF procured almost 6,000 Piper Aircraft.
Read the story →Political Pressure
In the late 1930s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt anticipated that the U.S. could be drawn into a war in Europe. His administration began a pilot training program in 1938 to create a reserve of trained civilian fliers in case of a national emergency. African American leaders argued that blacks should share with whites the burden of defending the United States, and the government opened the program to African Americans.
Read the story →Pratt and Whitney R-2800
This type of engine was used in the Republic P-47, rated at 2,000 hp for take-off. Many contractors built engines under license during World War II. This engine was built by Ford Motor Co., Dearborn, Mich., in 1943.
Read the story →Prejudice & Memory
Prejudice & Memory brings survivor testimony, servicemembers' accounts, and original objects into a history of the Holocaust. These personal records preserve experiences that can disappear behind statistics. Within a military aviation museum, the exhibition places wartime service alongside the persecution, liberation, and human consequences of the war.
Read the story →Radioplane OQ-2A
In the mid-1930s, radio-controlled model airplanes became the basis for the U.S. Army Air Corps' development of the aerial targets for antiaircraft gunnery training. Starting in 1935, the Radioplane Co. in California developed several variations of an original design by former movie star and modeler Reginald Denny. The successful OQ-2A generated contracts for almost 1,000 targets in 1943.
Read the story →Raiders Flying Jackets
On the far right is the A-2 flying jacket with the insignia of the 432nd Bomb Squadron worn by Capt. C. Ross Greening on the Tokyo Raid. He was later shot down and captured by the Germans in July 1943.
Read the story →Republic P-47D (Bubble Canopy Version)
The P-47 Thunderbolt was a large, powerful single-engine fighter built around a radial engine and a turbo-supercharging system. Later P-47D aircraft used a bubble canopy that improved the pilot's view to the rear. The Thunderbolt served in air combat and in demanding attacks against ground targets.
Read the story →Republic P-47D (Razorback Version)
The P-47 was one of the most famous U.S. Army Air Forces fighter planes in World War II. Although the P-47 was originally conceived as a lightweight interceptor, it became a heavy fighter-bomber -- the P-47's maximum weight was over 17,000 pounds, while the comparable P-51 Mustang's was about 12,000 pounds. The prototype made its first flight in May 1941, and Republic delivered the first production P-47 in March 1942.
Read the story →Republic/Ford JB-2 Loon (V-1 Buzz Bomb)
The JB-2 was a U.S.-made copy of the famous German V-1 surface-to-surface, pilotless flying bomb first used against England in June 1944. The Republic Aviation Corp. built the airframe for the JB-2 from drawings prepared at Wright Field, using dimensions taken from the remains of several V-1s brought from Germany. The Ford Motor Co. built the engine, which was a copy of the V-1's 900-lb. thrust Argus-Schmidt pulse-jet.
Read the story →Retreat in the Pacific
Following the Pearl Harbor attack, the Japanese turned their attention to the Southwest Pacific. For the next five months they were to sweep the Allies before them with alarming ease. Their first objective was the Philippine Islands, which they attacked from the air on Dec. 8, 1941 (Philippines time) and invaded the following day. In the face of overwhelming odds, U.S. and Filipino forces gradually withdrew over a period of weeks to the peninsula of Bataan and to Corregidor Island in Manila Bay.
Read the story →Return to the Philippines
As a prelude to the long-anticipated campaign to retake the Philippines, AAF air power carried out maximum-range air strikes against petroleum facilities in the Netherlands East Indies. The Allies invaded the Palau Islands and Morotai to gain airfield facilities, and targets in the Philippines were struck beginning in August 1944, seriously reducing enemy air strength in the area.
Read the story →Ruhrstahl X-4 Air-to-Air Missile
Allied bombing success in Germany during World War II led the Germans to develop air-to-air missiles. The X-4 was to be launched from fighter planes against B-17 bombers. This missile, like the V-weapons, is an example of advanced technology that failed to prevent German defeat, but previewed future arms development. The missile's warhead was "tuned" to the vibrations of the bomber's engines, and it was meant to explode as it passed nearby.
Read the story →Runways By Hand: China's Support of the Air War
Chinese laborers built and repaired airfields by hand, providing the physical foundation for Allied air operations from China. Runways required grading, drainage, compacted surfaces, and constant repair. In China, large workforces often relied on stone rollers, baskets, hand tools, and coordinated human effort rather than abundant heavy machinery.
Read the story →Ryan PT-22 Recruit
Primary trainers represented the first of three stages of military flight training -- primary, basic and advanced. Prior to 1939, the Air Corps relied entirely on biplanes as primary trainers, but in 1940 it ordered a small number of Ryan civilian trainers and designated them as PT-16s. They were so successful that the Air Corps then ordered large numbers of improved versions, among them the PT-22.
Read the story →Saga of B-17 PN9E
The most remarkable Arctic rescue of World War II involved B-17 PN9E, which was reported missing somewhere in southeastern Greenland on Nov. 9, 1942. An air search was launched and on Nov. 24, the plane finally was discovered by Col. Bernt Balchen 40 miles inland from the Greenland coast. Thus began a rescue operation that lasted nearly five months.
Read the story →Service Flags and Pins
Service flags are symbols of love and patriotic pride that families feel for their sons, daughters, husbands, wives, fathers and mothers who serve in the military during wartime. Usually hung in home windows, these small banners are a tribute to those defending America by serving in the U.S. Air Force, Army, Navy, Marines or Coast Guard.
Read the story →Seversky P-35
The Seversky P-35 was the Army Air Corps' first single-seat fighter with all-metal construction, an enclosed cockpit, and retractable landing gear. The P-35 marked a decisive break from the open-cockpit biplanes that had dominated American pursuit aviation. Its cantilever wing, enclosed cockpit, retractable landing gear, and metal skin brought several modern features together in one operational fighter.
Read the story →Sikorsky R-4B Hoverfly
The Sikorsky R-4 became the first helicopter produced in quantity and demonstrated new possibilities for rescue and access to places without runways. The R-4 used a single main rotor and tail rotor in a configuration that became familiar on later helicopters. Its limited power and payload kept operations modest, but the aircraft could hover, land in confined areas, and move at low speed with precision.
Read the story →Sikorsky R-4B Hoverfly II
Developed by Igor Sikorsky from his famous VS-300 experimental helicopter, the R-4 became the world's first production helicopter, and the U.S. Army Air Force's first service helicopter. The prototype XR-4 made its initial flight on Jan. 13, 1942, and as a result of its successful flight tests, the USAAF ordered three YR-4As and 27 YR-4Bs for service testing and flight training.
Read the story →Sikorsky R-6A Hoverfly
The Sikorsky-designed R-6A two-seat observation helicopter was a refined version of the R-4, the first Air Force helicopter to serve in a combat zone. First flown in October 1943, the R-6A used the same rotor and transmission system as the R-4, but it had a more powerful 235-hp Franklin O-405-9 engine. With its fuselage completely redesigned to reduce air resistance and improve pilot visibility, the R-6A bore little resemblance to its boxy-looking predecessor.
Read the story →Sikorsky R-6A Hoverfly II
The Sikorsky-designed R-6A two-seat observation helicopter was a refined version of the R-4, the first Air Force helicopter to serve in a combat zone. First flown in October 1943, the R-6A used the same rotor and transmission system as the R-4, but it had a more powerful 235-hp Franklin O-405-9 engine. With its fuselage completely redesigned to reduce air resistance and improve pilot visibility, the R-6A bore little resemblance to its boxy-looking predecessor.
Read the story →Solomon Islands
The Allied defensive line in the Pacific was threatened at another point in the summer of 1942. The Japanese had moved into the lower Solomon Islands and were rushing to complete an airfield on Guadalcanal from which they could threaten the lifeline between Hawaii and Australia. On Aug. 7, 1942, preceded by AAF B-17 reconnaissance and bombing missions, U.S. Marines made a surprise landing on the island.
Read the story →Stearman PT-13D Kaydet
The United States and several Allied nations used the Kaydet as a standard primary trainer from the late 1930s to the end of World War II. Originally designed in 1933 by Lloyd Stearman for the civilian market, it received the designation PT-13 Kaydet when the U.S. Army Air Corps adopted it in 1936. Two years later, the Boeing Airplane Co. purchased the Stearman Co. and continued producing many versions of the Kaydet using different engines.
Read the story →Stinson L-5 Sentinel
The L-5 was the military version of the commercial Stinson 105 Voyager. The U.S. Army Air Forces purchased six Voyagers in 1941 as YO-54s for testing, and quantity orders for Sentinels began in 1942. Between 1942-1945, the USAAF ordered 3,590 L-5s, making it the second most widely used USAAF liaison aircraft.
Read the story →Supermarine Spitfire Mk. Vc
Following the Battle of Britain in 1940, the Royal Air Force had planned to replace its Spitfire Mk. I and II fighters with the Mk. III, which had been under development for two years. The Mk. III included significant improvements such as an improved wing design, a retractable tail wheel and a new Rolls-Royce Merlin XX engine.
Read the story →Supermarine Spitfire PR.XI
The Mark XI was essentially a Mark IX Spitfire interceptor modified for photographic reconnaissance with cameras, a more powerful engine and a larger oil tank in the nose. All guns and armor were removed and the fuel capacity was greatly increased; speed was the unarmed Mark XI's defense. A total of 471 Mark XIs were built between April 1943 and January 1946.
Read the story →Target Berlin
Berlin, Germany’s capital, was selected as a prime target for the USAAF, not only for its industrial importance, but because the Luftwaffe would be forced to defend it, suffering heavy losses in the process. The USAAF conducted its first major raid against Berlin on March 6, 1944—672 heavy bombers struck the city and 69 were shot down.
Read the story →Taylorcraft L-2M
Adapted for military use from the commercial, prewar Taylorcraft Tandem Trainer, the L-2 initially carried the designation O-57. The "L" for "liaison" replaced the "O" designation for "observation." In the summer of 1941, the L-2 Grasshopper performed its service tests during US Army maneuvers in Louisiana and Texas, where it operated in various support roles such as a light transport and courier.
Read the story →Taylorcraft L-2M 'Grasshopper'
Adapted for military use from the commercial, prewar Taylorcraft Tandem Trainer, the L-2 initially carried the designation O-57. The "L" for "liaison" replaced the "O" designation for "observation." In the summer of 1941, the L-2 Grasshopper performed its service tests during US Army maneuvers in Louisiana and Texas, where it operated in various support roles such as a light transport and courier.
Read the story →Taylorcraft L-2M Grasshopper
Adapted for military use from the commercial, prewar Taylorcraft Tandem Trainer, the L-2 initially carried the designation O-57. The "L" for "liaison" replaced the "O" designation for "observation." In the summer of 1941, the L-2 Grasshopper performed its service tests during US Army maneuvers in Louisiana and Texas, where it operated in various support roles such as a light transport and courier.
Read the story →The 'Memphis Belle' and Nose Art
Memphis Belle's nose art gave a machine an identity that traveled from combat missions to film, publicity, and public memory. Crews often named aircraft and commissioned painted figures, slogans, or symbols that expressed humor, homesickness, pride, or superstition. The Memphis Belle's artwork, based on an illustration by George Petty, made the bomber instantly recognizable.
Read the story →The 'Short Snorter'
Many Allied airmen in World War II made souvenirs of their travels by collecting currency from all the places they visited. A "short snorter" was a collection of bills taped together, often signed by friends. When buying drinks, an airmen who could not produce his short snorter was expected to buy a round for those who had theirs.
Read the story →The Battle of the Points
In a gamble, the Japanese tried to outflank the main line by landing a force of 900 men on January 23, 1941, in southern Bataan, followed by another 300 reinforcements four days later. US and Filipino Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines, to include the PACR, fought from fortified beaches hoping to repel the Japanese invasion. US Navy patrol torpedo boat PT-34 sunk two Japanese landing barges.
Read the story →The Memphis Belle: American Icon
The Memphis Belle and its crew became timeless symbols of the service and sacrifice of the heavy bomber crews and support personnel who helped defeat Nazi Germany. This famed aircraft was the first US Army Air Forces heavy bomber to return to the United States after completing 25 missions over Europe.
Read the story →The Tragic Story of The Flying Dutchman
On Nov. 10, 1942, the C-47 nicknamed The Flying Dutchman (S/N 41-18564) hit a strong down-draft over the Owen Stanley Range while carrying U.S. Army troops from Port Moresby to Pongani, New Guinea. It crashed into the side of Mount Obree, killing seven of the 23 onboard and destroying most of the food it carried.
Read the story →The Tuskegee Airmen
The Tuskegee Airmen trained and served within a segregated military, fought with distinction, and helped discredit racist claims used to deny Black Americans equal opportunity. The term Tuskegee Airmen includes pilots, mechanics, instructors, nurses, administrators, and many others connected with the Army Air Forces program centered in Tuskegee, Alabama. The 99th Fighter Squadron and 332nd Fighter Group flew combat missions in the Mediterranean and European theaters.
Read the story →The U.S. Escape and Evasion Experts
Modeled on the British escape branch M.I.9, the top secret MIS-X (Military Intelligence Service-X) organization gave U.S. service personnel formal training and special tools for escape and evasion. Their efforts helped those airmen who were evading and those who had become POWs.
Read the story →Tools of the Trade
USAAF airmen were supplied with many tools to help them evade the enemy if they were downed or to escape from POW camps if they were captured. In addition to these, ingenious POWs made their own from material at hand.
Read the story →Training Begins
At Tuskegee, preparing a pilot required aircraft, instructors, mechanics, and the determination to challenge racial exclusion. This display includes a photograph of Noel Parrish with an aviation cadet, along with his wings and a plaque of appreciation. It connects the celebrated combat record of the Tuskegee Airmen to the people who helped them reach the cockpit.
Read the story →Tuskegee Airmen Congressional Gold Medal
In April 2006, the U.S. Congress voted to award the Tuskegee Airmen a Congressional Gold Medal, the most prestigious award Congress can give to civilians. The award was presented to the surviving Tuskegee Airmen on March 29, 2007, at a ceremony in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol "in recognition of their unique military record, which inspired revolutionary reform in the Armed Forces."
Read the story →Two Escapes: Capt. Jack Ilfrey
Capt. Jack Ilfrey, an ace who ended the war with eight victories, twice escaped capture. In November 1942, on a ferry flight from England to North Africa, Ilfrey diverted to an airfield in neutral Portugal because of a malfunctioning drop tank. The Portuguese seized his P-38 and Ilfrey was to be interned. However, while sitting in the cockpit showing the Portuguese how to fly the now refueled aircraft, Ilfrey quickly started it up, took off and flew it to Gibraltar.
Read the story →Two-war Flight Suit
Tuskegee Airman Lt. Haldane King, a B-25 pilot, wore this A-4 flight suit during World War II. His son, Capt. Haldane King Jr., a KC-135 pilot, wore it during the Southeast Asia War.
Read the story →USAF Fighter Gunnery Competition Trophy
This trophy represents the continuation of the pre-World War II Army Air Corps tradition of aerial gunnery excellence into the newly formed United States Air Force. It commemorates the outstanding achievement of four Air Force units in both the 1949 and 1950 service-wide competitions.
Read the story →V-2 with Meillerwagen
The German army developed the V-2, known also as the A4 missile, as an alternative to super-long-range artillery, which the Treaty of Versailles prohibited after World War I. Designed by rocket pioneer Wernher von Braun, the V-2 was a breakthrough in missile technology but failed to prevent Germany's defeat in World War II. The rocket was inaccurate, which made it a poor military weapon but an effective terror device.
Read the story →VB-1 Azon Guided Bomb
The VB-1 (VB for vertical bomb) was a 1,000-pound bomb fitted with a tail assembly containing radio-controlled movable rudders. These permitted the bombardier to attain greater accuracy by steering the bomb to the right or left (referred to as azimuth, hence the name Azon) after its release from the carrier aircraft. A bright flare was installed in the tail so the bombardier could watch the trajectory of the VB-1 as it fell earthward.
Read the story →VE Day! Victory in Europe
By April 1945, the German Army was shattered. On April 25, American and Soviet forces met at the Elbe River. Five days later, Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his Berlin bunker. His successor, Admiral Karl Doenitz, sent Gen. Alfred Jodl to the SHAEF (Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces) detachment in Rheims to seek terms for an end to the war.
Read the story →Vultee BT-13B Valiant
The Valiant was the basic trainer most widely used by the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. It represented the second of the three stages of pilot training -- primary, basic and advanced. Compared with the primary trainers in use at the time, it was considerably more complex. The BT-13 not only had a more powerful engine, it was also faster and heavier.
Read the story →Vultee L-1A Vigilant
The L-1 liaison aircraft, originally designated O-49, was the military version of the civilian Stinson Model 74. It marked the transition between heavier and larger observation aircraft used by the Air Corps in the 1930s and the lighter liaison "grasshopper" type aircraft represented by the L-series during World War II. Between 1939 and 1941, the Air Corps ordered 142 L-1s and 182 L-1As with a 13-inch longer fuselage.
Read the story →Waco CG-4A
The CG-4A was the most widely used U.S. troop/cargo glider of World War II. Constructed of fabric-covered wood and metal, the CG-4A was crewed by a pilot and copilot. It could carry 13 troops and their equipment or a jeep, a quarter-ton truck or a 75mm howitzer loaded through the upward-hinged nose section. Usually, C-46s and C-47s were used as tow aircraft.
Read the story →War on the Asian Mainland
The air war on the Asian mainland stretched across China, Burma, India, and Southeast Asia, linking local resistance with global strategy and difficult supply routes. Chinese forces had resisted Japanese invasion since 1937. After the United States entered the war, Allied air operations expanded from India and China to attack shipping, transportation, airfields, and military positions while supporting ground campaigns.
Read the story →William E. Dyess
William E. Dyess survived the fall of the Philippines, the Bataan Death March, and imprisonment before escaping and helping reveal conditions faced by prisoners. Lieutenant Colonel William Dyess commanded fighter operations on Bataan after Japanese attacks shattered much of the American air strength in the Philippines. When organized resistance ended, he entered captivity and survived the Bataan Death March and imprisonment in several camps.
Read the story →Winged Angels: USAAF Flight Nurses in WWII
Before World War II (WWII), the US military was not properly equipped to evacuate wounded soldiers from the front lines. The need to access the remote battlefields of WWII drove the US Army Air Forces (USAAF) to revolutionize military medical care through air evacuation. At the same time, commercial airlines only employed registered nurses as flight attendants, providing a model for military flight nurses.
Read the story →Winged Boot: Escape and Evasion in World War II
The winged boot symbolized a successful return after escaping from enemy territory, often with the help of civilians and resistance networks. Downed aircrew carried maps, compasses, currency, and other escape aids, but equipment alone rarely brought someone home. Evaders depended on local people who offered shelter, clothing, false papers, guides, and routes through occupied territory.
Read the story →Women's Army Corps in Europe
Women serving in the Women's Army Corps performed essential administrative, technical, communications, and support work in the European theater. The Women's Army Auxiliary Corps was created in 1942 and converted to the Women's Army Corps the following year. WAC personnel served as clerks, radio operators, mechanics, weather observers, photographers, drivers, and in many other specialties that released men for combat assignments.
Read the story →Women’s Army Corps in Europe
Women in the Women's Army Corps helped sustain the communications, intelligence, administration, and maintenance systems behind the European air war. Army Air Forces organizations relied on WAC personnel for work ranging from plotting aircraft movements and decoding weather reports to maintaining instruments and managing records. These jobs connected headquarters, airfields, supply depots, and combat units.
Read the story →Wright R-2600 Cyclone 14
The R-2600 series engine was introduced in 1939, initially rated at 1,500 hp. With improvements, it later reached a rating of 1,800 hp. In military use, it was used on Army Air Forces A-20s and B-25s as well as some Navy torpedo and patrol bombers. It also gained fame powering the well-known Boeing Model 314 Clipper, which offered transoceanic passenger service beginning in 1939.
Read the story →Wright R-2600-13
(Excerpted from North American Aviation Field Service Manual for B-25C and D) The Wright Cyclone, Model C14B, carries the Army Air Forces designation R-2600-13. The "R" stands for radial type of engine, "2600" stands for the number of cubic inches piston displacement, and the "13" is the model number.
Read the story →Wright R-3350-23 Duplex-Cyclone
The Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone was one of the most powerful radial aircraft engines produced by the United States. Based on the earlier Wright Cyclone engines, the R-3350 first ran in May 1937, and its first major military use was to power the Boeing B-29.
Read the story →WWII Airborne Tractor
The Clarkair Crawler Model CA-1 tractor was developed by the Clark Equipment Co. for the Army during World War II. Its small size permitted airlift by glider or other type cargo aircraft to locations where it could be used to construct landing strips or other facilities. After Clark developed the prototype and manufactured 13 of the vehicles, the Cleveland Tractor Co. built about 145 more.
Read the story →WWII Aviator Jackets
An aviator's jacket could be working clothing, protection against cold, and a personal record of service. Painted emblems, insignia, and signs of wear connect individual people with the aircraft and units around them. These jackets preserve a human scale within a gallery filled with large machines.
Read the story →WWII Brazilian Air Force Aircrews
Brazilian airmen flew combat missions in Italy as part of the Allied campaign to break German defenses and support ground forces. The Brazilian 1st Fighter Group deployed to Italy and flew the P-47 Thunderbolt under U.S. operational control. Its missions attacked transportation, artillery, fortified positions, and supply networks supporting German forces.
Read the story →WWII German Aircraft Armament
Aircraft armament changed rapidly during the Second World War as fighters, bombers, and ground defenses competed with one another. Guns and ammunition added weight and shaped the arrangement of an aircraft. These components reveal part of the design problem, while the nearby aircraft show how different nations answered it.
Read the story →WWII Imperial Japanese Navy Aircrews
Imperial Japanese Navy aircrews began the Pacific War with demanding training and exceptional experience, but the system could not replace mounting combat losses. Carrier and land-based naval aviators executed the Pearl Harbor attack and early campaigns across the Pacific. Their effectiveness reflected years of training, combat experience in China, and close integration with fleet operations.
Read the story →WWII Luftwaffe Aircrews
Luftwaffe aircrews entered the war with extensive combat experience but faced mounting losses, fuel shortages, and an increasingly overwhelming Allied air offensive. German aircrews supported campaigns across Europe and North Africa in fighters, bombers, transports, reconnaissance aircraft, and maritime patrol types. Early successes depended on training, coordination with ground forces, and operational concentration.
Read the story →WWII Mexican Air Force Aircrews
Mexico's 201st Fighter Squadron fought in the Philippines as part of a broader Allied air campaign against Japan. Known as the Aztec Eagles, the squadron trained in the United States and deployed to the Philippines in 1945. Flying P-47 Thunderbolts, its pilots carried out ground-attack and support missions alongside American units.
Read the story →WWII Prisoners of War
Captured airmen faced interrogation, confinement, hunger, forced movement, and uncertainty far beyond the moment their aircraft was lost. For an aircrew, survival after bailing out or crash-landing could begin a different ordeal. Some evaded capture with help from resistance networks and civilians; others entered prisoner-of-war camps governed unevenly by geography, resources, and the conduct of the captor nation.
Read the story →WWII Royal Air Force Aircrews
Royal Air Force aircrews served from the opening of the European war through victory, joined by personnel from across Britain, the Commonwealth, occupied Europe, and Allied nations. RAF crews fought in the Battle of Britain, Bomber Command's campaign, Coastal Command patrols, transport operations, tactical air forces, and theaters far beyond Europe. The service drew on an international training and personnel system.
Read the story →WWII Royal Italian Air Force
Italian pilots enjoyed success in the invasion of Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in 1935 and during the Spanish Civil War in 1936-1938, but suffered heavily while flying inferior aircraft against the Allies in World War II. Although the Regia Aeronautica carried out limited operations over England and the Soviet Union, most of its pilots fought in the Mediterranean region.
Read the story →WWII USAAF Aircrews
USAAF aircrews carried out combat, transport, reconnaissance, rescue, and training missions across a global war. A crew was a coordinated team rather than a collection of interchangeable positions. Pilots, navigators, bombardiers, radio operators, gunners, flight engineers, and specialists depended on shared procedures and on ground personnel who prepared every mission.
Read the story →Yokosuka MXY7-K1 Ohka Trainer
The Ohka placed a pilot inside a weapon intended for a one-way attack. This training version represents the preparation behind Japan's late-war special-attack program. It is also a reminder that an aircraft's technical design cannot be separated from the orders, desperation, and human cost surrounding its use.
Read the story →Zeamer and the 'Eager Beavers'
Jay Zeamer and the crew nicknamed the Eager Beavers turned a worn B-17 into a formidable reconnaissance bomber in the Southwest Pacific. Captain Jay Zeamer assembled a volunteer crew around a B-17E that other units considered unfit for regular combat. The crew repaired and modified the bomber, adding guns and improving its ability to survive long photographic-reconnaissance missions over territory where fighter escort was often unavailable.
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