Category: Uncategorized
“Happy New Year, Jerry!” — How a Clandestine Normandy Recon Mission Ended With a Laugh
“We both had our pistols in our hands. I really thought I was going to have to shoot him.” By Chuck Lyons ON NEW YEAR’S Eve 1943, a full five months before D-Day, two British…
Shapur I — Meet the Third Century Persian King Who Crushed Three Roman Emperors
“The humiliation Shapur had inflicted on Rome must have conjured memories of Hannibal, and later emperors would seek to restore Roman dignity.” By Byron Waldron IN THE third century AD, monumental sculptures were erected across…
Air Corps vs. Navy — How Decades of Inter-Service Rivalry Left the U.S. Ill-Prepared for the Battle of the Atlantic
“In January 1942, the U-boat war reached the U.S. East Coast and 20 years of American Army-Navy rivalry made the German attack much more deadly.” By Col. Joseph T. Molyson, Jr. USAFR (Ret) ON A…
‘You’re in the Cockpit’ — Climb Aboard a B-26 for a Real 1943 Skip Bombing Mission
“Today’s target is a convoy of six merchant ships carrying ammunition, trucks, artillery pieces, spare parts, and food. Two of the vessels are tankers filled with diesel and aviation fuel. They are being escorted by…
YE-ZB ‘Hayrake’ — The Top-Secret Radio Navigation System That Helped America’s Carrier Pilots Defeat Japan
“Senior Japanese naval officers wondered how U.S. aircrews could always find their carriers.” By Marc Liebman HISTORIES OF THE Pacific War often focus on carrier-based aircraft flying strikes against enemy-held islands or ships many hundreds…
Suicide Jockeys — Why America’s Glider Pilots Were the Unsung Heroes of WWII
“Gliders could deposit men, equipment, ammo, jeeps, and howitzers onto unprepared fields silently and with pinpoint precision.” By Monique Taylor AMERICA’S GLIDER pilots of the Second World War considered themselves the “bastards of the Army…
