Despite being overlooked in many circles, American “Lend-Lease” support sent to the USSR not only tipped the scales in Eastern Europe but enabled the victory on the Russian Front.

Planning the Overlord assault didn’t just happen overnight. It was a result of a prewar doctrinal framework built upon six identified components for an amphibious assault.

Often referred to as the “Friendly Invasion,” the mixing of Yanks with British subjects often made for a clash of cultures.

While the Overlord operation was a combined effort of land, sea, and air forces, the amphibious assault plan was given the code name Neptune.

When World War II began, both the US Army Air Forces and the Royal Air Force Bomber Command developed strategic bombing fleets aimed at destroying Axis morale and its ability to prosecute war.

The Eighth Air Force’s hard luck unit was filled with colorful personalities who made the unit one of the most storied of World War II.

Mark Stepelton flew in some of the most dangerous environments of the war by escorting bombing aircraft over occupied Europe and conducting air interdiction missions, striking enemy targets deep behind the lines. 

In the span of only a few days in October 1943, the US Army Air Forces was forced to reconsider its entire strategic bombing endeavor in the European theater.

German technology surpassed the Allies' with the production of radio-guided weapons that worked in a combat environment. As early as 1943, the Henschel (Hs) 293 and the Ruhrstahl X-1 (Fritz X) were the first guided bombs employed in combat. These weapons debuted around the time of the Allied assault on Salerno and were a new concern for fleet defense. 

Churchill’s famous quip about the Royal Air Force’s “few” was inspirational, but Fighter Command wasn’t so few and even had several advantages.