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WWII World War Two
Europe
Military History
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 4
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In my opinion, the men of the 8th Air Force were possibly the bravest men ever to go into battle for our country. I say this as a man who is in awe of those men who defended and charged down Little Round Top, jumped into Normandy, landed at Omaha and Utah Beach, Tarawa, Iwo Jima, the Pusan Perimeter, Khe Sanh, Hue and the thousands of nameless places where Americans have fought and bled.
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SMSgt Lawrence McCarter
MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. - One of that late members of Our American Legion Post 208, Millis, MA did 26 Missions in a B17 as tail gunner with the 8th Air Force. He and all four of His brothers served in Europe during WWII and so did His wife.
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MSgt Dale Johnson
MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. Most people don't realize those Bombers were such big targets and between the Anti Aircraft Guns and German fighters they didn't have much chance at making 25 Missions.
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MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D.
SMSgt Lawrence McCarter As the situation in Europe improve, they raised the mission requirement to 30 in the spring of '44 and to 35 in the fall.
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Who can deny that the B-17 was one of the most beautiful airplanes ever built? The B-17 and the P-51 will forever be my 2 favorites. The P-38 was indeed a badass as well and enabled our pilots to put a fiery end to Yamamoto in the Pacific. Great article, thanks for sharing.
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MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D.
Few are aware that the B-17E Eaker flew in on the first Eighth AF mission was "Yankee Doodle," shown in the first photo.
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SPC Bill Bailey
The P-38 had a bad rep in Europe (it really earned it's spurs in the Pacific), but in it we learned how to fight the Luftwaffe. The P-47 broke the Luftwaffe's back taking out their best pilots and the P-51 batted clean up.
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