
January 17th, 1945. Western Germany, the Eiffel Hills. The forest was silent in the way only winter can make it. Brittle, expectant, holding its breath.…

Somewhere over the Pacific, a lone Hellcat pushed through cloud layers at speeds that made the airframe tremble. Behind him, nine Japanese interceptors fanned out…

March 14th, 1944. Lieutenant William Anderson crouched in a muddy ditch 30 mi inside Germany, watching smoke pour from his B17 flying fortress as it…

March 8th, 1944, 11,000 feet above southern Germany. Through the crystal clear canopy of his P-51 Mustang, flight officer Bruce Carr. Bruce Carr felt his…

Dajora Airfield, New Guinea. November 1943. The air in New Guinea does not act like air. It acts like soup. It is heavy, saturated with…

January 3rd, 1944, 30,000 ft above the frozen fields of Lower Saxony, the air was thin and bitter cold. Inside the cockpit of his Focolf…

March 19th, 1944. 1437 hours. 22,000 ft above the Bavarian forest. The air was thin and bitter cold. Ice crystals danced in the slipstream. 10…

June 26th, 1943. 24,000 ft. Over the English Channel. The air is thin, cold, and deceptive. To the naked eye, the sky is a sprawling…

March 4th, 1944. 0647 hours. RAF Debben, Essex, England. The metal was cold enough to burn. Captain Don Gentile pressed his gloved hand against the…

At p.m. on October 14th, 1943, the sky over Germany was a freezing, chaotic nightmare. Inside the fuselage of a B7 flying fortress named Ye…


