Historic Aerial Bombing Missions

Dramatic aerial views of bombing operations, showing smoke clouds, military aircraft, and terrain impacts. Captures the intensity and significance of WWII air assaults.

B-29's Erase Japanese War Plants

FIGHTERS VS. FORTS. Silhouetted against the smoke pall over Hamburg are Flying Fortresses of the 8th Air Force and one lone Focke-Wulfe 180 far in the rear as the heavy bombers hammered another vital German target, this time following up the heavy

Hq. 8th AAF DEVELOPS NEW BOMBING TECHNIQUE: Development of a new day bombardment technique enabling bombing through solid cloud cover was announced by 8th AF Bomber Command headquarters recently. The value of the new technique was

Bomb bursts from Flying Fortresses (Boeing B-17s of the 15th AAF cover the landing ground and hangar installations on Mostar airfield in Yugoslavia.)

Tracks And Rolling Stocks Were Hit When Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses Attacked The Railyard At Bolzano, Italy, On Dec. 26. Bursts Can Be Seen Covering The Yards. Aaf Photo.

Yanks Batter Okinawa Wall -- Sheer Cliffs Honeycombed With Interlocking Caves Such As This Semicircular Escarpment South Of Tomui (Foreground) Barred The Path Of The 'Deadeye' 96Th Division In The Center Of The 10Th Army Line On Okinawa. The Escarpment W

B-29's Erase Japanese War Plants

Catching a Nazi truck moving along a highway, an 8th AF Fighter pilot pours his tracers into it until it bursts into flame and as he passes over, he leaves behind a flaming hulk. France.

Bombing of Hollandia, 30 March 1944.

This is one of the many German fighter planes destroyed by U.S. Army 9th Air force fighter-bomber pilots during the "Battle of the Bulge" in Belgium. It is credited to Lt. John H. Wallace, 79 Butler St., Dorchester, Mass., whose gun-camera recorded

Precision bombing wrote off the whole of the Osijek oil refinery in Northern Yugoslavia on June 14, 1944. Heavies of the 15th Air Force not only wrecked the refinery but destroyed the main rail line nearby.

Shuri, Okinawa, Ryukyu Retto, As Seen 23 May 1945 Following Bombing.

Consolidated B-24 Liberators of the U.S. Army 13th Air Forces "Long Ragner" and "Bomber Barons" units attack Japaneseanese installations in the Southwest Pacific, battered Balikpapan on Borneo. Huge smoke columns arise from direct hits on the Pandansari

Smoke Billows Up After Bombs From Planes Of The 455Th Bomb Group, 742Nd Bomb Squadron, 15Th Air Force, Score Direct Hits On The Railroad Bridge Across The Tagliamento River At Casarsa, Italy, On September 4, 1944.

Both targets covered with compact clusters of bombs is the story told by this picture taken 3 Sep 44 as 8th USAAF bombers attacked gun emplacements and a fortress on the Brest Peninsula. Photo reveals bombs crashing into gun sites on the rocky coast.

War Theatre #19 - Rabaul, New Britiain. Bombing. (2 Nov 43)

Consolidated B-24 Liberators of the 13th Air Force are photographed passing over Bacalod airdrome on Negros Island in the Central Philippine while smoke and dust rise from the airstrip, bombarded with numerous direct hits and made unservicable.

Formation Of Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses Of The 381St Bomb Group, Dropping Bombs On Target Somewhere In Europe.

Bombing of Tripoli Harbor, Tripolitania, Libya, 29 November 1942.

Aircraft, Burma, India & INDIA,BATTLES War

Freighter and lugger (A and B) are sunk by Douglas A-20s at Manokwari, New Guinea. (Taken 9 June 1944)

The Dijon/Longvic Airfield In France Is Partially Hidden By Bombs Falling Toward It During A Mission By Planes Of The 306Th Bombardment Group, 8Th Air Force On 28 March 1944. Previous Bombs Have Already Hit Their Target.

Flak-burst and vapor trails over Bremen as the Boeing B-17 in the foreground unloads a stick of bombs destined for the ship yards below.

Rocket attack by British Typhoons in Europe. (top left) Second pair of rockets hits intersection of track and road, just to right of water tower. Wingman now fires his first volley. (top right) Wingman's rockets, four in number, can now be seen

Entrances to many underground positions are seen in this view of Kiska. Note the skipping bomb (right center) which has struck the ground and bounded into the air. An anti-aircraft gun position is visible at the extreme left center.

FRANCE-A German supply train bound for enemy troop positions on the U.S. 3rd Army front, set ablaze by 9th Air Force Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighter-bombers.

Boeing B-17s continue attack over flak and smokescreen (20 Dec 43).

BURNING TARGET-The VKF aircraft bearings plant at Erkner, in Berlin, about 15 miles southeast of the center of Hitler's capital is shrouded in smoke as a Flying Fortress passes over the target area during Wednesday's (March 8) attack on the heart of

Rjuken Attack, Norway (Nov. 16, 1943) Boeing B-17 coming out of dive into long glide, parachutes above.

A U.S. Army Air forces B-29 Superfortress is seen during a raid on Nakajima aircraft plant, Ota, Japan.

Aircraft, Burma, India & Bombing,

The Air Plan, "Operation, Strangle," has worked since Feb 18, 1944 to choke off all means of transporting supplies to the Huns on the Anzio and Cassino Fronts. One direct hit, and two near misses are scored on a railroad bridge where it crosses a

More Bombs Fall Toward The Target As Smoke Rises Form The Renzinger Goods Station, Austria, After Bombing On 19Th February 1945 By The 344Th Bomb Squadron, 98Th Bomb Group.

North American P-51 Mustangs form criss-cross pattern over Boeing B-17 bound for Merseburg, Germany.

Boeing B-17 and fighter escort bound for Bremen, Germany. (Dec 13, 43)

The brave and fearless Japaneses lose face during a visit by 5th Air Force bombers. This photograph, taken during a raid on Hansa Bay, New Guinea, shows Japanese anti-aircraft gunners, stricken with fear, huddled beside their motionless and idel ack-ack guns.

CRIPPLING NAZI RAILROAD COMMUNICATIONS-The railway marshalling yards at Chalons, France are enveloped in smoke and explosions after being hit by the bombs of 8th AF heavies. Note in lower right, huge explosions just beginning to erupt angrily

A cloud of steam rising skyward, hides a locomotive hauling freight along a rail line somewhere in enemy territory. This attack is part of the 8th Fighter Command's effort to knock out Nazi supply lines behind their lines. France.

PINPOINT PRECISION ON VERGATO, ITALY.--Pin point precision at its best, as AAF Flying Fortresses block a vital supply line in Northern Italy. The mission was to Vergato, 25 miles southwest of Bologna. Supply lines here feed from Bologna south

During - Strike Photo Of Nagoya, Japan. 14 May 1945.

Continuing their attack on the enemy's strategic positions in the Naples area, Flying Fortresses of the Northwest African Air Force are here blasting the Mignano Road bridges, 35 miles northwest of Naples.

Aircraft, Burma, India & Bombing,

The Air Plan, "Operation, Strangle," has worked since Feb 18, 1944 to choke off all means of transporting supplies to the Huns on the Anzio and Cassino Fronts. A direct hit caught a train on the rail bridge near Ficulle, 50 miles north of Rome on the

Allied landing craft along...

With A Background Of Feathery Vapor Trails Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortresses" Of The 452Nd Bomb Group Droned Steadily Over Germany Territory Enroute To Their Target, Gablingen, Germany. 16 March 1944. 8Th Air Force Attacks On Vital Nazi Installations Help

FRANCE-9th Air Force crews which bombed the fuel dump in the thickly wooded forest de Conches, hit a narrow strip of forest bordering the concrete road. The dump was attacked many times, and each time the airmen saw telltale black smoke

Formation Of Consolidated B-24 Planes Coming In On Korror Island Palau Group, In The Caroline Islands To Bomb Anti-Aircraft Positions. 6 May 1945.

Strikes blossom on Ploesti, Roumania, smoke columns tower from refinery, during 5 May 44 attack. 97th Bombardment Group, 340th Bombardment Squadron, 15th Air Force.

Despite the VIII's fiercest, largest and most sustained air-battle, our bomb runs destroyed: Approximately 75 ball-bearing production, severely damaged other industrial, RR and city areas.

ST JEAN D'ANGEL---Breaking up the general patchwork-quilt appearance of the area, bombs from Boeing B-17s of the U.S. 8th AF strike the German fighter-pilot training base at St. Jean D'Angel in occupied France during Monday's daylight operations.

Fire bombs dropped by 9th Air Force Republic P-47s on 28 Sept 1944 sear bomb-scarred Metz, Fort, France.

Manokwari, Japaneseanese-held base on the northern coast of New Guinea, was the object of this precision bombing attack by U.S. Army Air Forces flyers. Smoke rises thousands of feet into the clouds from the destruction below.

Strafing Attack On An Enemy U-Boat By Lt. Leal From Consolidated B-24 On 30 July 1943. England, 479Th Anti Submarine Group.

A Boeing B-29 Hit On Bombing Run Over Japanesean. 26 June 1945.

Bombing Of Enemy Harbor Installations At Dunkirk, France, 15 Feb 1943, By Consolidated B-24 "Liberators" Of The 2Nd Bomb Division, 8Th Air Force. Two Of The Liberators Shown Over The Smoking Target.

A 9th AF tactical reconnaissance plane is shown here flying directly over a heavy artillery emplacement on the Ile de Cezembre, off the coast of St. Malo, France, to record the effects of bombs during an attack by 9th AF fighter-bombers.

North American B-25 Mitchells During Low Level Bombing Over Tobera Airfield, Rabaul, New Britain.

This remarkable clear photo was made during the bombing of Bastia, Corsica, by Liberators of the U.S.A.A.F Hits were made on a large merchant vessel, three small merchant ships and in the railroad yards. More than fifty bomb bursts may be seen in

Despite A Badly Damaged Right Wing, This Consolidated B-24 Liberator Of The 376Th Bomb Group Maintained Its Place In The Formation On The Bomb Run Over Toulon, France. Limping 'Liberator' Shown Directly Over Smoking Target. 8 June 1944. Altitude 22,700

Bombing Of Wake Island On 30 April 1944, By Consolidated B-24 "Liberators" Of The 11Th And 30Th Bomb Groups, 7Th Bomber Command.

The bridge over which the traffic of 12 roads must cross at the edge of the town of Pontecorvo lies beneath the smoke of bomb-bursts from the Marauders of the Tactical Air Force 12th AAF. This raid was made two days before the Allied landing South of

With A Trail Of Fire And Smoke Behind It, This North American B-25 Mitchell Of The 12Th Air Force Heads For Its Home Base After Smashing At The Motta Di Livenza Bridge, 30 Miles Northeast Of Venice, On 11 Dec. 1944.

Aircraft, Burma, India & Bombing,

Placing 246 X 500 Pound Bombs On The Important German Ammunition Dump At Klein Engstingen, 32 Martin B-26 Marauder Of The 17Th Bomb Group On 8 Apil 1945 Acheived The Excellent Results Shown Here. The Firs Flight Of Aircraft Touched Off The Fireworks-Like

La Braye, France-During bombing by Flying Fortresses and Liberators on 24 Dec 43.

The Polish Air Force in the Second World War What the Spitfire dive-bombers could do. Explosions straddle German flak positions close to the shoreline on Walcheren Island. This attack, carried out by Spitfire XVIs of one of the squadrons of the No 131 (Polish) Wing, was part of a sustained 'softening-up' campaign by No 84 Group and the bomber forces in advance of an amphibious assualt on the fortified island.

The enemy used smoke pots to obscure the target, a railroad fill near San Michele on the Brenner Line; but North American B-25 Mitchells of the 12th AF successfully hit the fill on 21 January 1945, helping to choke up this vital supply lines from

Japan-Ota plant is here under carrier aircraft attack on 25 Feb. 1945. This plus B-29 strike left factory 75 per cent destroyed.

The dock area, storage and supply center of Hankow, China, is seen here under attack by B-29 Superfortresses of the U.S. Army 20th Air force. They were ofllowed by more than 200 bombers and fighters of the U.S. Army 14th Air force, in China's

Aircraft, Burma, India & Bombing,

In a combination high altitude and dive-bombing attack on this railroad bridge at Varazdin, Yugoslavia on March 18, 1945, Lockheed P-38 Lightnings of the 15th Air Force completely destroyed one span and damaged 6 others.

A Column Of Black Smoke From The Blazing Xexia Oil Refinery At Ploesti, Rumania, Following A Pounding By 15Th Air Force Bombers On 10 August 1944. A Formation Of Consolidated B-24 Liberators Leaves The Scene Of Destruction.

Aircraft, Burma, India & Bombing,

This B-24 Liberator of the United States Army 15th Air Force was hit by flak and burst into flames, after attacking the railway marshalling yards at Munich, Germany. Above, the plane is seen just after catching fire. Below, it is on its way down with

Bombing Of Legaspi Airdome On Southern Luzon, P.I. By Consolidated B-24 Bombers On 20 December 1944.

Magnesium Flares, Fires And Flak Bursts Cast An Eerie Light On Zietz Synthetic Oil Plant During The RAF Night Attack Of 16-17 Jan. 1945. Many Fires And A Large Explosion Were Observed. A Number Of Attacks Were Mounted By The Still-Active Luftwaffe Night

BOMBING

four Nazi tanks are caught dispersed in field in Bulge area, Belgium, 24 Dec. 1944.

Aftermath of Allied Bombing of Lae. Bomb crater, in the foreground, and wrecked Japanese aircraft on the Lae airstrip.

In the crooked talon which forms part of Messina's harbor, many military objectives were hit in raids by the Northwest African Air Forces bombers on July 14. This picture shows smoke arising from fires & explosions resulting from attacks on the

Japaneseanese ships are bombed by planes of the 380th Bomb Group, 528th Bomb Squadron in the Boeroe Area, Netherlands East Indies on 26 December 1944.

BORAM/WEWAK, NEW GUINEA BOMBING

When A "Flying Fortress" Crashed In A Plowed Field Somewhere In England Its Load Of Incendiaries Exploded When It Hit. Here They Burn In The Wreckage, Stewn For 500 Yards.

Vapor trails from Boeing B-17s of the U.S. 8th Air Force made this picture on their way to attack targets in the Cologne area of Germany, 14 October 1944.

Cassino on the day of the huge Allied aerial attack, with Monte Cassino in the background. Atop the mountain is the Benedictine monastery which had been blasted by American bombers just one moth before after Nazi troops turned the abbey and its

A tight pattern of bombs blankets the rail bridge near Sinzig, Germany, as U.S. 8th Air Force B-24 Liberators attacked Dec 26, 44. Located between Bonn and Coblenz, this line is vital to Nazi divisions fighting a few miles away.

In a rare accident, a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress in a lower group of a U.S. 8th Air Force formation attacking Berlin, Germany, swung under an upper group just as the bombs were released. An instant later and bomb has crashed through the port

With Snow Covered Mountains Obscuring The Bomb Strikes They Just Caused, These North American B-25 Mitchells Of The 12Th Af Complete Another Day'S Work In Northern Italy. This Attack Was On 18 January 1945 At A Bridge Along The Brenner Line Near The Aust

Umnak, The Aleutians - When Mt. Tulik, An Aleutian Volcano, Suddenly Came To Life, Lt. Robert Renkert Of Kent, Ohio, Of The 54Th Troop Carrier Squadron, Pictorially Recorded The Incident. Because The Danger Was Not Considered Imminent, Plans For The Move

Wherever there was a railroad yard on Italian lines leading into the Rome area, there bombers of the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces found targets. The Aiming point here is the railroad yard at Fabriano, an important junction on the line from the

COTTBUS SMOKE FROM PRECEDING BURSTS-can be seen in one section as newly laid bombs erupt on the German Focke-Wulf plant at Cottbus, Germany. During the attack on 29 May 44 by U.S. 8th Air Force Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses. Hangars

Bombs Away And First Class Bridge Busters Start Their Whining Way Earthward To Strike Vital German-Held Railroad And Highway Spans In Northern Italy As Bridge Busting Martin B-26 Marauders Attacked To Keep Hun Supplies From Reaching His Battered Forces O

Smoke plumes rise thousands of feet in the air as Liberators, Mitchells and Lightnings of the "Jungle Air Force" head homeward following a 150-plane attack on wasted Balikpapan, long a target of the 13th AAF. The installations, badly battered but

Fire Fighters Try In Vain To Save The Consolidated B-24 (Ac #42-51535) Which Crashed Somewhere In Iceland. 2Nd Service Group, 24 August 1944.

As the marauders head for home, vapor trails break from the wing tips of two of the planes.

A 9th Air Force Douglas A-26 Invader, America's newest and fastest bomber, streaks away from the target, the six-span, 920 foot long railroad bridge over the Moselle River at Eller, 25 miles southwest of Koblenz, after dropping 1,000 bombs on the

Bombing of Hollandia.

AN EIGHTH AAF FIGHTER STATION, ENGLAND--Nazi plane becomes an aerial torch. Graphic account of combat with a German plane is pictured here through the gun camera of an American fighter pilot. (1) The Messerschidt 109 as the attacker follows

Collection of World War I Photographs, 1914-1918 that depict the military activities of British and other nation's armed forces and personnel during World War I.

Attack on a U-Boat. These...

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