AERIAL ASSAULT The day Fortress Europe fell

Today the numbers involved in Operation Overlord are unthinkable: 6,000 bombers, more than 5,000 fighters, some 1,600 transport aircraft, and 2,500 gliders. All crammed into scores of airfields throughout Britain, but mainly in southern England. All were serviced, armed, and assigned aircrews, eager to take off on the day called “D.”

BARRETT TILLMAN

In June 1944, the European War had dramatically reversed from four years previously. When Adolf Hitler’s Wehrmacht conquered Western Europe in 10 weeks, Nazi Germany seemed unstoppable. But since the Battle of Britain in 1940 and the growing Allied bomber offensive, with German defeats in the Mediterranean and Russia, the grand alliance stood poised to pounce from Britain, across the English Channel, and liberate Occupied Europe. That spring, the American public avidly followed the European Theater “ace race” as Thunderbolt and Mustang pilots vied for the highest score. The 4th Fighter Group competed with the 56th to produce the top gun, and by June 5, the highest scores were Capt. Robert S. Johnson, rotated Stateside with 27, Maj. Francis S. Gabreski with 22, and Capt. Don Gentile, also rotated, with…

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Flight Journal (Digital) - 1 Issue, May/June 2024

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