Named for the silkworm caterpillar, which produced the silk originally used to make parachutes, the club encapsulates the precariousness of its member’s experiences with its motto: “Life depends on a silken thread.” 

Spoilers ahead for Episode 3 of Masters of the Air. 

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.

Authorized during the one of most difficult periods during the air war, the Air Medal was an effort to rally the US Army Air Forces crews.

Roughly 100 companies, coast to coast, helped Republic Aviation Corporation manufacture each P-47 Thunderbolt.

In a series of high-stakes strategic conferences in late 1943, the Allies made several key decisions that shaped wartime strategy, while reflecting the changing balance of power between the Allied nations and foreshadowing the postwar emergence of the bipolar world.

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.