Downloaded from YTS.MX
TIBBETS: When I'm flying, I'm no longer on this planet.
Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX
But up in the blue, zooming down through endless time.
It's so completely satisfying and so hauntingly unrecapturable.
PILOT (over radio): Fighters, 10:00. You got three on your tail.
PILOT (over radio): Pull 'em up, pull 'em up.
PILOT (over radio): There's two more.
TIBBETS: My hair is soupy with sweat each day I hold hands with death.
But I'm not scared. Not yet.
NARRATOR: When humanity was faced with a catastrophic threat,
a madman, with millions of supporters
determined to conquer the world.
A group of men came together to create the world's largest air force.
PILOT (over radio): Three planes, 9:00 coming around.
NARRATOR: And win back the skies of Europe.
This is the astonishing true story of their courage and sacrifice.
PILOT (over radio): B-17 out of control at 3:00.
NARRATOR: Told in the actual words of the men who were there
and shown through incredible real-life images
fearlessly filmed by actual combat cameramen.
This is the story of the Mighty Eighth Air Force.
(theme music plays).
(air raid alarm, explosions).
(marching).
♪ ♪
MAN (over radio): Stand therefore with truth like a bel
around your waist, righteousness like...
TIBBETS: I'm flying high above Georgia,
on my way back from a training mission,
trying to pick up some actual music instead of the sermons
they always play on weekends.
♪ ♪
NARRATOR: Medical school dropout Captain Paul Warfield Tibbets,
is considered not only a fierce and highly dedicated soldier
but the best pilot in the US Army's newest branch, their "Air Forces".
Tibbets' grace under pressure will be essential for the
US in the days and years ahead.
REPORTER (over radio): We interrupt this broadcast to bring you this
important bulletin from the United Press.
Flash Washington, The White House announces Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor.
REPORTER (over radio): From the National newsroom in New York,
President Roosevelt said in a statement today that the
Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii from the air.
REPORTER (over radio): Another bulletin,
the Secretary of War has just announced that all military
personnel on active duty is to appear Monday in uniform.
TIBBETS: By the time I land, people are streaming out of
the buildings and all over the fields.
War was suddenly a reality.
NARRATOR: With the US officially at war with Japan,
young men all across the country begin to enlist in the military.
Paul Tibbets stands by waiting to see where he'll be assigned.
TIBBETS: We still didn't know what Uncle Sam had in mind
for us but I was determined we'd be ready.
NARRATOR: Despite the Japanese attack,
Winston Churchill and FDR agree on a "defeat Germany first" policy.
The ultimate goal, an Allied invasion of Europe.
But how?
The Luftwaffe, Germany's fearsome air force rules the skies over Europe.
They have thousands of battle-tested pilots and planes and
two years of combat experience against Britain's Royal Air Force.
(gunfire, explosion).
But unlike the Germans, the US' pilots have only flown peacetime patrols.
They have zero combat experience.
And yet to win this war,
somehow the US must smash the Luftwaffe out of the sky.
ROOSEVELT: We know now that if we lose this war,
it will be generations or even centuries before our
conception of democracy can live again.
NARRATOR: The US designates air force units all around the world.
Starting with the number 1, each unit will be given a
different mission.
Some will train airmen stateside and guard the
American homeland while others will go abroad and bring the
fight to the Axis powers.
The 8th Air Force will be sent to England.
Their official mission to bomb German military targets
throughout Western Europe.
The newly formed 8th will need a commander.
Someone who can build the world's largest air force.
From scratch.
EAKER: This is what I have been waiting for all my life.
This is what I have been training for, for 24 years.
I aim to show they did not pick the wrong guy for this
job I am about to undertake.
NARRATOR: General Ira Eaker has been flying planes for
over 20 years, but like almost every other member of
Air Force Command, Eaker has zero combat experience.
He has only tested planes and trained pilots.
He arrives in England in February of 1942,
with zero planes and another six men.
The RAF gives Eaker his headquarters at High Wycombe.
The most important mission of Eaker's career begins the
Eighth Air Force must start bombing Germany as quickly as possible.
General Eaker tours a country that's in bad shape.
The British are holding on but just barely.
London is filled with bombed out buildings,
the constant drone of air raid sirens,
and food ration lines that wrap around the block.
EAKER: I have daily discussions far into the night
with the British bomber commander about different
approaches to bombing.
He tells me their own experiences bombing the Germans.
NARRATOR: At the war's start, the Royal Air Force only flew
missions by day.
It made for more accurate bombing, only military targets
were hit and innocent civilians were kept safe.
But flying during daylight meant British bombers were easy targets.
They kept getting shot down by German fighters.
But in 1940 when Germany began to indiscriminately bomb
British civilian targets, the RAF took their gloves off and
began to bomb German cities and civilians
at night deliberately blanketing large areas.
This "Area bombing" in darkness meant their men would be safer.
But they knew their bombs would be less accurate,
killing civilians.
Now, the RAF continue to sow terror among the enemy hoping
to break German morale and end the war.
And they want Eaker and the Eighth to join them on their nighttime missions.
But Eaker and the US refuse.
They'll do things their way.
EAKER: Area bombing just doesn't make tactical sense for the Eighth.
Their bombs fall and hit houses and churches.
I have a distaste for the whole business.
We'll bomb by day, the British can bomb by night.
We'll hit the Germans right around the clock.
NARRATOR: Finally, in July of 1942,
the first group of bomber crews arrive in England
ready to carry out Eaker's orders.
The RAF is amused by the Americans' naive arrogance.
Since he first landed in England with visions of
daylight bombing, the Brits have been calling his men
"Eaker's Amateurs".
But even though the RAF think daylight bombing is suicide,
Eaker and the US have faith that they will succeed where
the British have not.
Thanks to a powerful weapon in their arsenal,
The B-17 Flying Fortress.
Each bomber is equipped with a top-secret Norden Bombsight
that allows crews to calculate how flight conditions will
affect a bomb's trajectory.
Confident American engineers make exaggerated claims that
it can help drop a bomb into a pickle barrel from 30,000 feet.
But that's not why it's called a Flying Fortress.
Packed with 10 crew members, each B-17 is typically
equipped with 12 .50 caliber machine guns
covering nearly every angle.
These bombers they insist along with their counterparts,
the B-24 Liberator, can defend themselves against anything
the Luftwaffe can throw at them.
With their men, planes, and strategy in place,
the Eighth is finally ready for the first B-17 daylight
bombing mission of the war.
The Eighth Air Forces' very existence may depend on its success.
General Eaker needs a capable pilot to lead this first mission.
He chooses a familiar face.
One that's arrived with the first wave of men,
Paul Warfield Tibbets.
On August 17th, six months after he first touched down in
England, General Eaker gives the all clear.
Paul Tibbets and his crews are about to engage in an act of
war against the enemy.
TIBBETS: The last couple of days have been tense with anticipation.
We have sufficient military training.
PILOT (over radio): All right, Major Tibbets, you are clear for takeoff
and good luck to all of you.
TIBBETS: But no experience in actual warfare.
What is it like to be fired at?
Will we keep our positions when under attack?
We'll soon find out.
We just crossed the channel not far from our target.
We're at 23,000 feet, in attack formation.
NARRATOR: Their target is a military rail yard near the
City of Rouen in Nazi-occupied France.
The attack group consists of only 12 bombers.
And because the Eighth doesn't have their own fighter plane yet,
a handful of RAF Spitfire planes will ride along to protect them.
TIBBETS: I think we've caught the Germans by surprise.
I look out the cockpit window waiting to see some sign of
enemy fighters but we're still in the clear.
NARRATOR: Over the objections of his officers,
General Ira Eaker insists on joining them in one of the bombers.
He follows behind Tibbets' plane as they approach the target.
EAKER: All combat crewmen take up their stations.
We're alert and vigilant.
Then Tibbets banks right leading the formation on our bombing approach.
We're all astonished there are still no fighters or flak.
My theory that day bombardment is feasible is about to be tested.
I see the target ahead, long lines of railroad track crowded with freight cars.
TIBBETS: I give the order to open the bay door,
then switch control of "Butcher Shop" to the
bombardier up in the plexiglass nose.
It's his plane now.
I hear the call over the intercom.
PILOT (over radio): Bombs away.
TIBBETS: All 12 planes drop their bombs, 37,000 pounds in total.
NARRATOR: Paul Tibbets becomes the first B-17 pilot to attack
German-held territory from the air.
From the back of the formation,
General Eaker keeps close tabs on the group's progress.
EAKER: Mushroom clouds of smoke drift up toward the sky.
One from within the central target,
and a few others around the lengths of track.
This is better than we could have asked for
on our first combat mission.
Our first direct attack on Hitler.
We caught them off-guard.
Now, time to get out of here.
PILOT (over radio): Holy mackerel!
TIBBETS: Now comes the flak, leaving stains of smoke in its wake.
It's erratic at first but then zeroes in on us.
Then I spot.
PILOT (over radio): 9:00 clock high, enemy fighters.
TIBBETS: Three German ME-190s coming in for the attack.
PILOT (over radio): Watch those two at 12:00,
they're coming in same thing at 3:00.
PILOT (over radio): I see him. Low, he's going low.
11:00 low.
PILOT (over radio): Watch it, Paul.
EAKER: They come zooming out of the Earth and open fire
on our Fortresses.
Their fighters let their tracers loose on our
formation, but our gunners let loose on them.
PILOT (over radio): It's coming on the Air Force.
Pull her up, pull her up, pull her up.
PILOT (over radio): Shoot, shoot, he's right there.
11:00, straight up.
PILOT (over radio): Watch your fighter at 3:00.
They're coming in. I think I hit one.
EAKER: Suddenly, we got new gunfire erupting above and below.
PILOT (over radio): The Spits are on their back.
EAKER: Our escorts, British Spitfire fighters are engaging
the Germans, giving us cover.
NARRATOR: A group of 35 to 40 German planes keep their distance...
watching.
TIBBETS: It seems like they're simply looking over us.
We head back across the channel.
PILOT (over radio): All clear.
TIBBETS: And the tension is almost gone.
NARRATOR: As all 12 bombers return safely back to base,
US military officials and press crowd the tarmac to hear how it went.
COMMANDER: General Eaker commanding the bomber command led this flight
and he may like to say a few words.
EAKER: I saw some FW 190s, attacked some of our ships,
I could see their gunfire and I could also see the reply of
our turret gunners.
Our people held formation excellently.
I don't think you need to worry about the training of our crew.
NARRATOR: American commanders point to the successful mission on Rouen
as proof that their daylight bombing can work.
And for the next couple weeks, it does.
Major Tibbets and his crews fly nine bombing missions
without losing a single plane.
But that's all about to change.
On September 6th, Major Tibbets leads 30 planes
on another mission to Northern France.
But this time, the Luftwaffe is not watching them from afar.
TIBBETS: We're on our way home when it happens.
PILOT (over radio): What in the hell is that?
NARRATOR: German fighters bulldoze past the Eight's spitfire protection,
spraying bullets into the bomber formations.
Tibbets and the other Fortresses perform evasive
maneuvers to escape the enemy.
(gunfire, explosions).
Explosions fill the sky.
TIBBETS: An explosion to my left.
It's Lieutenant Lipsky's plane.
We watch as he spins out of formation and makes that last
grim smoking dive to Earth.
We just lost our first plane.
Up to this time, the war had seemed little more than a game.
We considered ourselves supermen whose skill in the
sky would always bring us back safely.
Now at last, the war was a bloody reality for all of us.
NARRATOR: Five weeks later, Tibbets is transferred out of the Eighth.
But by the war's end, he will cross paths with them again.
While leading a top secret mission that will change
the course of history.
STEWART (over film): The roar of 100,000 motors sing their song
and theirs is a song of freedom.
A few thousand of these babies will win this war for us and a
few thousand guys like you in there flying.
This is where you'll serve America best.
Young men of America, your future's in the sky.
Your wings are waiting.
♪ ♪
NARRATOR: Throughout 1942, the US war economy goes into overdrive.
And more bomber units are deployed to Europe to join
General Ira Eaker's Eighth Air Force.
Just eight months removed from 0 planes and 6 men,
the Eighth now has over 300 planes and 13,000 men.
LABLOTIER: I came over to England on a convoy of
100 ships and got put right to work.
We're talkin' 15-18 hour days.
They put me on the Armaments crew.
Apparently, I'm gonna be doing everything around here.
We're lifting 200-pound bombs clean over our heads.
NARRATOR: Part-time gun range operator,
weapons expert and plane mechanic,
Sergeant Frank Lablotier is one of thousands of grounds crewmen
essential to the operation of the Eighth.
He even joins the occasional mission as a B-17 waist gunner.
Before the war, Frank was MIT-bound,
now the fast talking New Yorker and the other men
of the Eighth adjust to their new lives on base.
LABLOTIER: Let me tell you, we ain't got nothing but toast and tea.
All the Brits have to eat is pigeon.
And if we miss a shipment, we don't eat at all.
There ain't too much fun to have here on base.
I say let's get a three-day pass and hit London.
PILOT: If it wasn't for London, we'd all have gone crazy.
PILOT: London was the biggest city I've ever seen.
PILOT: There was this little bar in Cambridge.
PILOT: Sometimes we'd get so drunk,
we get lost on our way back to base.
PILOT: They took the street signs down in case of an
invasion, so we just had to sleep on the street.
PILOT: The ladies of Piccadilly Circus are gonna be
the richest people in England by the end of this war.
PILOT: American airmen were the best thing to ever happen
to British women.
NARRATOR: More men and planes arriving in England means more
missions for the Eighth Air Force.
And the more they fly, the more the problems with
so-called precision bombing are exposed.
By the fall of 1942, Eaker's inexperienced crews are
struggling to hit their targets while fighting off the Germans.
It's chaos.
They're losing planes and men.
Daylight bombing is not working.
The British see the Eighth struggling and insist that
they join them on their night area bombing missions.
General Eaker continues to resist,
he is certain that daylight bombing will work.
But if the Eighth is going to survive,
they'll need a change in tactics and they'll need it now.
LEMAY: Some of the guys in charge here have the
military efficiency of Camp Fire Girls.
I wanna go berserk, beat my head against a wall.
These people didn't know where half their bombs fell.
And most of the bombs didn't hit the target anyway.
If I'm being honest, the bombing of the Eighth is just stinko.
NARRATOR: Colonel Curtis LeMay arrives in England in October of 1942.
Always chomping on a pipe, he is a tough-as-nails aviator.
Behind his back, his men call him "Iron Ass".
LeMay reports to General Eaker and has 33 B-17s under his command.
Without anyone asking, he makes it his mission to fix
the Eighth's inaccurate bombing.
LEMAY: I lay in bed thinking about it.
Burning in my mind all the time was the thought,
"What are we going to do about the bombing?"
I study our formations, crews, procedures, everything.
I watch as we take off, as we fly over targets,
engage the enemy, and then land.
I notice two problems immediately.
First, we're engaging in evasive maneuvers far too
close to our bombing targets.
No wonder we're not hitting crap.
From now on, once we're a couple minutes out,
we fly on a direct line to the target no matter what
they're hitting us with.
Any plane that takes off will go over the target,
or the crew will be court-martialed.
Second, our formations are too sloppy and easily penetrated.
From now on, we'll stack our bombers tight.
That way, our gunners will be closer together,
giving us more firepower.
And tight formations will mean our bombs are more concentrated,
giving us a better chance of accurate bombing.
Yes, we're going to lose men.
But I tell them, I will be in the lead plane on every mission.
If this can end the war even a day earlier,
it'll be worth it.
LABLOTIER: When one of the gunners are too hung over,
they ask me if I wanna go up.
I asked, "Do I got a choice?"
PILOT: Hey, don't forget the coffee.
NARRATOR: For crewmen like waist gunner Frank Lablotier,
LeMay's tactics are terrifying.
LABLOTIER: My first mission, I froze on my gun,
broke out into a sweat, my hands on the buttons,
pressing with my thumbs, I just counted Mississippi one,
Mississippi two, Mississippi three,
until the fighter was gone.
When you're on a bombing run, you can't deviate from it,
they'll put the flak all around the target so
you have to fly right into it.
NARRATOR: LeMay's new tactics are a major turning point for
the Eighth Air Force.
Their bombs start hitting their targets more frequently.
By the end of 1942, General Eaker makes LeMay's tactics
the official bombing policy of the Eighth.
And Eaker finally convinces Churchill that daylight bombing can work.
Eaker begins to push the Eighth deeper into Nazi-held
territory on increasingly risky missions.
The bigger the Eighth's missions become,
the more fighter protection they'll need.
And starting in March of 1943, they'll no longer fully need
the RAF for help.
After relying on the British for fighter support,
the Eighth finally has their own fighter plane to replace
the RAF Spitfire,
the P-47 Thunderbolt.
Nicknamed the "Jug," for its milk jug-like shape,
the Eighth's new fighter plane has a top airspeed of 400 miles per hour,
eight .50 caliber machine guns and
can out-dive any other plane in the sky.
Thunderbolts begin to escort the Eighth's bombers on missions,
protecting them from German fighters.
But The Eighth's bombers are still being picked off by the
Luftwaffe because the P-47 has a major problem.
Range.
The P-47 can't escort the bombers beyond the border of Germany.
The moment the bombers cross into the Nazi homeland,
the fighters have to turn back and refuel.
The Eighth's bomber boys are not happy.
LABLOTIER: Planes are being shot out of the sky and
some are landing half destroyed.
I saw a Fortress come back with over 500 holes in it
the other day.
We got a hangar at the end of the runway with a brand new
Fortress that we've been scrappin' for spare parts.
NARRATOR: By the start of August,
the Eighth has lost almost 400 planes
and over 3,000 men.
And despite the issues with the P-47,
commanders have no intention of slowing down.
NARRATOR: In August of 1943, the Eighth Air Force's growing
fleet of bombers and fighters prepare for their biggest and
most dangerous mission yet,
deep inside Luftwaffe controlled territory.
US Commanders identify two high-value targets in the
German cities of Schweinfurt and Regensburg.
The factories there are essential to the entire
German war industry.
Schweinfurt accounts for 40% of all of Germany's ball bearings,
tiny steel balls essential to virtually every
single machine in the Reich.
And the plant in Regensburg is where they make
Messerschmitts, some of Germany's most-feared planes.
The US believes that destroying both plants will be
catastrophic for the Nazis.
The plan is to hit both targets at the same time
with 376 bombers.
The Regensburg group will take off first with the
Schweinfurt group following close behind.
Once the P-47s reach their range and turn back,
the Regensburg group will take the brunt of the
Luftwaffe attack letting the Schweinfurt group
travel freely to their target.
After both groups bomb their targets,
the Regensburg group will avoid the Luftwaffe's fighters
by traveling south to an allied air base in North Africa.
Then, it will be the Schweinfurt group's turn
to fight as they make their long journey back to England.
But General Eaker is worried that this deep penetration mission
requires a much larger bomber force than
the Eighth can currently put in the air.
EAKER: We're being pushed into this before we're ready.
I protested bitterly with Washington.
Colonel LeMay will lead the Regensburg group of the operation.
MAN: Everyone, synchronize your watches.
NARRATOR: Right from the start,
the mission runs into serious trouble.
LEMAY: Damn this English weather.
My bombers managed to get up through the fog,
but the Schweinfurt group is stuck on the ground.
If I had known it was going to go like this,
I would have stayed in bed.
CONTROLLER: Gentlemen, you are clear for takeoff and good luck.
LEMAY: Over three hours later, they're finally up in the air
but we're well on our way to Regensburg.
NARRATOR: Colonel LeMay acts as a navigator in the lead plane.
No one will be veering off-course on this mission.
As the bombers reach the German border,
the P-47s turn for home.
PILOT (over radio): Fighters, 10:00.
6:00 level toward 5:00, watch it.
PILOT (over radio): I got my sights on it.
PILOT (over radio): I see him.
PILOT (over radio): There's two more.
PILOT (over radio): My God. They're everywhere.
PILOT (over radio): There's four of 'em, 1:00 high.
PILOT (over radio): Watch that fighter coming in 3:00.
PILOT (over radio): 9:00 level.
NARRATOR: As planned, LeMay and his group face
over 150 Luftwaffe pilots.
Unfortunately, the delayed Schweinfurt group won't
benefit from the diversion.
PILOT (over radio): It's down on number four,
cover him as well as you can, everybody.
11:00 below, 5:00 high.
I got him.
B-17 in trouble on our 2:00.
(gunfire, explosions).
LEMAY: It's only blind luck that we aren't hit
on our final approach.
The crazy part,
we dropped most of our bombs right on target.
(explosions).
The formation held as well as could be expected.
Now, I have to get us out of here.
NARRATOR: The Regensburg factory has been hit hard.
And the group sets a course southward over the Alps,
heading for allied airfields in North Africa.
It takes LeMay a few days to learn the fate of the
Schweinfurt arm of the mission.
Because that group had been delayed so long by bad weather,
the Luftwaffe had time to refuel.
So instead of having a clear shot at their target,
they had to fight their way both into and out of Schweinfurt.
Over both Schweinfurt and Regensburg,
60 bombers are lost.
And another 200 are damaged.
552 men killed or lost in one day.
In 1943, being on a B-17 bomber crew for the Eighth
is as close as you can get to a death sentence.
Then, just weeks after the costly double-mission,
General Eaker gets grim news.
The bombings did major damage to the ball bearing factory in Schweinfurt.
But not enough.
The Germans started rebuilding immediately.
General Eaker must tell his men they're headed back to Schweinfurt.
After establishing his new tactics and leading the
Regensburg mission, LeMay is promoted to General and
eventually given his own command in the Pacific.
He'll make a gigantic impact on World War II
and in the process, become infamous for the rest of his life.
NARRATOR: On October 14th, 1943, General Ira Eaker
is forced to deliver dark news to his men.
Just eight weeks after their first savage mission there,
the Eighth must return to Schweinfurt.
Even though the Schweinfurt bombers hit their targets
causing extensive damage to the ball bearing factory,
the Germans had it back up and running within a few weeks.
PILOT: Anytime you were getting fed a good breakfast,
you knew you were going on a dangerous mission.
PILOT: I was on the first Schweinfurt mission.
PILOT: Schweinfurt, that was a killer town.
PILOT: We'd all heard the stories of the first raid.
PILOT: It was a massacre. A slaughter, really.
PILOT: We all knew what it meant to fly that far into Germany.
PILOT: I knew I had to go back to my bunk and write home one last time.
PILOT: I was scared.
We were all scared of Schweinfurt.
LEADER: Let us all synchronize our watches.
EAKER: I was asked, "What does it do to your guts when you
know you have to send men out, and by the thousands
they are gonna get killed?"
After an important mission like Schweinfurt you wonder if
you might have taken other courses of action that would
have prevented heavy losses of lives.
If I worry too much about the past.
CONTROLLER (over radio): Clear for takeoff.
EAKER: It will decrease my ability to deal with the future.
CONTROLLER (over radio): Good luck, boys.
NARRATOR: 3,000 men take to the air to try and destroy Schweinfurt,
where they will engage...
in one of the most savage air battles of the entire war.
PILOT (over radio): Got three ships down, one just crashed and burned.
PILOT: There were bogeys at 12:00, then 2:00, 4:00, and 6:00.
PILOT: My navigator was shot.
I couldn't get the damn bomber to stop shaking.
Flak was firing everywhere.
PILOT: I saw B-17 tear in half right in front of me.
PILOT: I heard counts as high as 800.
PILOT: I didn't care about the consequences.
There was no way I was going back up again.
NARRATOR: The aerial battle raged for over three hours,
across hundreds of miles of sky.
The Eighth managed to lay bombs on the factory but
at a heavy cost.
60 bombers were lost outright.
Over 650 of the nearly 3,000 crewmen are now listed as
injured, killed, or missing in action.
18% of the Eighth's entire force.
The details of the battle become international news
and earn the Schweinfurt mission the nickname,
"Black Thursday".
PILOT: At that point, we all expected we'd be shot down eventually.
PILOT: Something was seriously wrong and we needed support.
NARRATOR: Under increasing pressure from his commanders
to show evidence of the Luftwaffe's collapse,
General Eaker presents the mission on Schweinfurt as a success.
EAKER: This does not represent disaster,
but it does indicate that the air battle is reaching its climax.
This is the final struggle of a monster in his death throes.
We have our teeth in the Hun Air Force's neck.
NARRATOR: In private, when he hears his commanders refer to
25% losses on a mission as "acceptable", he's conflicted.
EAKER: I've got to accept losses.
I have to take that.
But there is a mental fear,
a fear that I am costing men their lives.
It's a war of attrition out there.
But we can keep it going, maybe better than they can.
I need more planes, more men, more everything.
We'll keep losing men, but so will they.
So we will continue with unrelenting fury.
This we shall do.
NARRATOR: A few days after Schweinfurt, General Eaker
contradicts his death throes claim by stating,
"There are no definite indications yet that the
German Air Force is on the verge of collapse."
In fact, the Nazi war machine is still operating effectively
and it's not just waging war against the Allies.
It's also serving a far more sinister purpose.
Mass murder.
In the months after Black Thursday,
Eaker's bosses order him to send the Eighth's planes up
into the air in greater numbers than ever before.
The last three months of 1943 are the bloodiest to date in
the skies over Europe, over 2,700 men killed in action.
But command wants even more bombers in the air.
They fear that General Eaker isn't utilizing the full
strength of the Eighth Air Force.
To some, he is no longer the right man to defeat the Luftwaffe.
Eaker's men are hurting.
When asked what needs to change, they don't hold back.
PILOT: We all knew what's wrong.
And then at a briefing, a pilot finally screams it out.
PILOT: For goodness' sake, we need better damn fighters!
NARRATOR: It's the worst-kept secret in the air,
the P-47s with their limited range just aren't cutting it.
The Eighth needs a better fighter plane and they need it now.
NARRATOR: If the Eighth is going to protect their bombers
deep over Germany, they'll need new fighter planes
with a longer range and talented pilots to fly them.
PREDDY: I'll never forget the first time I saw a plane.
I was hooked.
My first flight was the most wonderful experience I've ever had.
I knew right then, I had to become an aviator.
NARRATOR: Captain George Preddy's war began flying fighter planes
in the Pacific theater against the Japanese.
But after recovering from a mid-air collision,
he's come to England to fight for the Eighth.
And he's exactly the kind of gifted dogfighter the Eighth needs.
PREDDY: Not long ago I got my third Jerry.
Three kills in my Thunderbolt.
But I got hit by a flak coming home and had to bail out
before I could get across the channel.
It was a cold time of the year to go swimming,
but the air sea rescue picked me up in an hour.
I get back to base, they gave me a slap on the back,
a bottle of brandy, and a brand new Mustang.
NARRATOR: They started arriving in November of 1943.
Equipped with British Rolls Royce Merlin engines,
perfect for speed and maneuverability,
armed with six machine guns, faster and deadlier than
any plane in the sky.
They're a dogfighter's dream.
They've been given the designation "P-51".
But everyone just calls them "Mustangs."
And their most important feature?
Range.
The Mustangs are the answer to the Eighth's fighter problems.
They can escort bombers 2,000 miles deep into
Germany and back again.
PREDDY: I sure like this Mustang.
There's nothing tricky or mysterious about flying fighters,
you must know your airplane and how to operate it.
Our missions run very long, sometimes five and six hours
and the old fanny gets pretty sore.
NARRATOR: The U.S. is convinced that their
Mustangs will give the Eighth an edge on
their German counterparts and lead them to victory.
But General Eaker won't be there to see how it plays out.
On New Year's Day 1944, the man who turned the Eighth from a ragtag
group of airmen to a viable air force is transferred.
Officially, he's 'promoted' to Commander of the
Mediterranean Allied Air Force.
Unofficially, he's devastated.
EAKER: I feel like a pitcher who has been sent to the
showers during a World Series game.
Having started with the Eighth and seen it organized,
it's heartbreaking to leave it before the invasion of Europe.
NARRATOR: U.S. leaders want a fierce new commander who will be
more aggressive in using the Eighth's growing fleet of
fighters and bombers to accelerate the Air War and
they know exactly the guy for the job.
General Jimmy Doolittle is already a household name,
known as the pilot who led the first air raid
on Japan after Pearl Harbor.
MAN (over radio): All the volunteers for this secret and hazardous job
had been specially trained by Colonel Jimmy Doolittle.
NARRATOR: An international celebrity,
he's already commanded the 12th Air Force in North Africa
and the 15th Air Force in the Mediterranean.
Before the war, he competed for aviation records and was
known as the King of Speed.
But as the men of the Eighth soon discover,
General Doolittle is relentless.
Until now, bomber crews have been allowed to return home
if they survived 25 missions.
General Doolittle immediately changes that.
DOOLITTLE: I'm raising the number of bomber missions
required by our crews from 25 to 30 missions,
to achieve greater efficiency from experienced crews.
I need our best men here, not back home.
NARRATOR: Doolittle also changes the very core of the Eighth's mission.
DOOLITTLE: When I get to the HQ of the Eighth,
I see a sign hanging up, it says 'The first duty of the
Eighth's fighters is to bring the bombers back alive.'
I tell them to take that damn thing down,
and to put one up saying, 'The first duty of the
Eighth's fighters is to destroy German fighters.'
From now on, I'm giving our fighters free rein.
They have the full order: seek and destroy any Luftwaffe
fighters they encounter or any German aircraft on the ground.
I don't want the Germans to feel safe in the air ever again.
NARRATOR: As his fighters begin to go on the offensive,
Doolittle is given his most important orders yet:
final planning is underway for the long-awaited invasion of Europe,
the Eighth must clear the skies of the Luftwaffe but
they only have five months to do it.
NARRATOR: The countdown to the invasion of Europe has begun.
General Jimmy Doolittle orders his men to do the impossible,
rid Europe of the Luftwaffe completely.
On February 20th, 1944, the Allies launch a massive
six-day campaign known as Big Week.
Each day, 800 of the Eighth's bombers fly into Germany
escorted by nearly 800 fighters.
DOOLITTLE: One of my personal frustrations is that
I'm forbidden to fly any missions over the continent.
I know too much about the invasion.
NARRATOR: Over a period of a week, the Eighth's planes
drop over 10,000 tons of bombs on target.
The bombers hit aviation plants and draw out the
Luftwaffe for the fighters to swoop in for the kill.
(gunfire).
The all-out assault costs the Eighth
hundreds of bomber planes
(explosion).
and thousands of men,
but through sheer force of numbers,
they begin to accomplish the impossible.
DOOLITTLE: The Luftwaffe don't seem to be rising against us
in the same numbers they were before.
What is hurting the Germans the most is the deterioration
in the experience level of their pilots.
NARRATOR: In the four months since General Doolittle took over,
the Germans have lost 1,000 fighters total with 434 destroyed
during Big Week alone.
The most seasoned Luftwaffe pilots are forced to "fly until they die."
(gunfire, explosion).
And their replacements are easy pickings.
The Eighth might just achieve its goal.
(whacking).
DOOLITTLE: We have to keep up a maximum effort because
the tempo of our attacks has increased,
the Luftwaffe is well aware that an invasion is imminent.
I woke up before dawn today and got up in the air
as soon as possible.
I fly above the beaches of Northern France.
High above the clouds.
I can't help but feel an overwhelming sense of pride
for my boys; the skies are clear of German planes.
We made this happen;
complete air supremacy over the beaches.
NARRATOR: After five months pounding the Luftwaffe into oblivion,
the Eighth has paved the way for the Allies.
In the battle to clear the skies for the invasion,
they have suffered 10,000 combat deaths.
But now, the invasion of Europe is here.
Eighth Air Force planes take to the sky and drop pamphlets
to let French civilians know the Allies are
coming to liberate them.
The moment he lands, General Doolittle reports back to
Eisenhower, beating the Supreme Commander's own
intelligence staff by several hours.
He wants to deliver the news to the General himself.
DOOLITTLE: I tell Eisenhower, "The only planes our guys on
the ground and ships will see are Allied planes.
There are no Luftwaffe in sight."
NARRATOR: And then, it begins.
On the morning of June 6th, 1944,
156,000 men head toward the beaches of Normandy to hurl
themselves against Hitler's Atlantic defenses.
(explosions).
(gunfire, explosions).
The landing forces face heavy resistance immediately.
If the invasion is going to succeed,
the men on the ground will need aerial support from
both bombers and fighters.
Allied planes with special D-Day markings take off
over 13,000 times that day over France.
The Eighth's goal, to stop more German reinforcements
from entering Normandy.
PILOT (over radio): Bombs away.
NARRATOR: They bomb key targets,
strafe the shore defenses,
(gunfire, explosions).
and hunt down any Luftwaffe fighters that dare to appear.
It's the largest single day air operation in history.
Waist Gunner Sergeant Frank LaBlotier logs more hours
that day than ever before.
LABLOTIER: Everything's going so fast.
They're telling us to take out bridges,
so that the Germans can't get into Normandy.
We go up for one mission, head back to England and
refuel like a racetrack team.
Before I know it, we're back up in the air.
NARRATOR: Over 4,000 Allied troops die that day.
But after a few days with the help of air support,
the Allied ground troops manage to take the Normandy beaches.
Meanwhile, the German army heads to the coast,
hoping to throw the invasion force back into the sea.
NARRATOR: After taking the beaches of Normandy,
the Allies slowly advance into the countryside.
The German infantry meets them head on and for six weeks,
the two sides viciously battle suffering a combined 100,000 casualties.
It soon becomes apparent they're in a stalemate.
Allied commanders want the Eighth to come in and break it.
The German and Allied armies are on either side of the
St. Lo Periers road.
Allied Command wants a massive force of over 2,000 planes
to target the German forces to the south of the road,
blowing a hole wide enough for Allied tanks
to pour through and continue to Paris.
But the armies are only a mile and a half apart.
DOOLITTLE: I argue with my commanders.
We're too close to our own men.
Thousands of bombers cannot drop thousands of bombs accurately.
NARRATOR: But command wants it done now.
On July 25th, the Eighth's bombers take to the skies
and General Doolittle joins them to observe.
DOOLITTLE: And then I see it happen.
The wind shifts.
Instead of blowing smoke and debris away from the exploding
bombs toward the enemy lines, it blows back over ours.
The bombardiers drop visually and lose their aiming points.
I'm powerless to stop it.
It's one of those harrowing moments you dream about
and then wake up, except this time, it's real.
NARRATOR: The attack is a success.
But the Eighth's bombs kill over 100 U.S. troops.
DOOLITTLE: How does anyone explain to families that
American fliers snuffed out the lives of American soldiers
who had no way to defend themselves or even to know
that they were being bombed.
NARRATOR: Later, Eisenhower sends General Doolittle a
formal letter absolving him of any guilt.
100,000 combat troops pour through the gap
created by the Eighth's bombs.
They move through the French countryside toward the capital city.
After four years of occupation,
the French welcome the Allies with open arms.
They're overjoyed to see the troops and lavish them
with gifts and gratitude.
On August 25th 1944, the Allies march into Paris,
liberating the city.
(cheering).
The Allies are now one step closer to Hitler's doorstep.
In August of 1944, the Germans are in retreat all over Europe.
And their decimated Luftwaffe is now sending up any pilots
they can find no matter how inexperienced.
For the Eighth's remaining fighter pilots like George Preddy,
it's open season.
(gunfire).
Major Preddy has been putting his new Mustang to good use.
PREDDY: I sure as hell am not a killer but combat flying is
like a game and a guy sure likes to come out on top.
NARRATOR: On August 6th, Preddy records six kills
in five minutes.
(gunfire).
It sets a single day record, bringing his total kill count
to 23 confirmed.
He's now one of the highest ranking aces in the European theatre.
PREDDY: I'm not aiming for any particular score,
I just wanna finish the job in Europe so I can go back to the Pacific.
I'd like to get another crack at the Japs.
NARRATOR: But Preddy has already voluntarily extended
his tour of duty three times.
So later that August, he's finally forced to take a
mandatory leave back stateside.
Back home in North Carolina, he receives a hero's welcome.
And gets to spend quality time with his family.
PREDDY: My preacher asked me what I intend to do and
I told him straight out. "I must go back."
Back to do my part, back to fly and give again,
and I am not afraid.
My plane may be shot away, but I shall not fall,
for I have wings.
Wings not made of steel, but wings of a firmer kind.
Wings God gave my soul.
Thank God for Wings.
NARRATOR: After a month at home,
George Preddy returns to Europe for his fifth tour of duty.
(cawing).
Preddy is returning to an Eighth Air Force at its peak strength,
200,000 men strong.
And the men of The Mighty Eighth are about to be tested
with their biggest operation yet.
(gunfire, explosions).
NARRATOR: On December 16th, 1944,
250,000 German troops launch a counteroffensive,
taking the Allies by complete surprise.
(gunfire, explosions).
Known as The Battle of the Bulge,
the Germans attack a thinly-defended
80-mile stretch of the Allied lines.
Their goal?
To punch through to the Belgian port of Antwerp
disrupting the Allies' most critical supply chain.
Thousands of Americans are killed and captured
before they even know what happened.
They wait desperately for air support,
but the Eighth's bombers are nowhere in sight.
DOOLITTLE: The Germans don't want us to celebrate the
Christmas holidays.
They started an offensive and intense fog rolled in at the
same time covering our airfields.
There's nothing we can do until the weather breaks.
(gunfire).
NARRATOR: A week later on December 24th,
the skies finally open up.
(gunshot).
The Eighth launches a maximum effort to bomb the attacking
German troops and go after any Luftwaffe pilots in the area.
2,034 bombers and 853 fighters darken the skies over Belgium.
(explosions).
The heavy bombing begins to halt the German counteroffensive.
The next morning, ace pilot Major George Preddy is ready
to celebrate Christmas by joining the action.
PREDDY: I show my crew my bright red socks and
I tell 'em it's gonna be a good day.
My fighting socks are ready for some action.
(gunfire).
NARRATOR: Since his return, he's notched up more kills,
bringing his official total to 25 and a half.
(gunfire).
His squadron of 11 Mustangs climbs into the sky
in search of the enemy.
For hours, they patrol.
Until...
PREDDY (over radio): Looks like they started without us, let's join 'em.
NARRATOR: Preddy makes quick work of two German fighters
bringing his official total kills to 27 and a half.
Scanning the sky, he spots a third fighter and gives chase.
He's flying across the battlefield,
closing in on his target when it happens.
American gunners trying to hit the German fighter he's
pursuing hit Preddy instead.
One round severs his right femoral artery.
Still, Preddy manages to crash land.
And medics rush to try and get him to a field hospital.
But the bleeding just won't stop.
Major George Preddy, the top Ace of the Eighth
dies on Christmas Day.
He was 25 years old.
By the end of January 1945,
the German offensive has been
pushed back beyond its original launching point.
The Battle of the Bulge is over.
Hitler gambled everything and lost.
The German military is crumbling,
but Hitler and the Nazis show no signs of surrender.
With the Russian Army 40 miles outside of Berlin,
Allied commanders draw up plans to bomb major German cities.
They'll do what's necessary to end the war.
In early February 1945, the Allies order a major
bombing operation against Berlin itself.
It's been targeted before, at least 300 times.
But this time, it's much larger.
The operation has the potential to level the city
and cause mass civilian casualties.
When General Doolittle gets the orders,
he wires back a formal objection.
DOOLITTLE: There are no strictly important military
targets in the designated area.
This mission is an effort to lower German morale,
to terrorize people, to destroy their will to endure,
and the chances of terrorizing the German population into submission,
by merely an increased concentration of bombing,
is extremely remote.
NARRATOR: Allied commanders wire him back,
the mission is a go.
(explosion).
On February 3rd, 1945,
over 1,400 of the Eighth's bombers and
over 500 Mustang escorts lay waste to Berlin.
Leaving the city in ruins.
The one mission alone kills nearly 3,000 Berliners,
wounds 2,000 more, and leaves 120,000 homeless.
Allied Commanders claim success.
But Doolittle worries the Eighth has tainted its legacy.
DOOLITTLE: In what may be one of our last and best remembered
operations regardless of its effectiveness,
we will have violated the basic American principle
of precision bombing of targets of strictly military significance.
We should leave area bombing to the British.
NARRATOR: Doolittle proves to be right.
Despite the devastation in Berlin,
there are no signs that the German people have broken.
Or that Hitler's grip on them, that had begun in the early
1930s, has become any less firm.
(cheering).
One week later, the Eighth is ordered to launch an attack
on another German city.
One that, unlike Berlin, has no flak batteries or planes
defending it and that until now has remained untouched
by the war, Dresden.
♪ ♪
NARRATOR: After Berlin, the differences between the Eighth's
daytime strategic bombing and the Royal Air Force's
nighttime area bombing continue to shrink.
The Germans who have destroyed so many European cities,
and murdered millions of people,
now watch their own cities turn to rubble.
The Eighth, at the peak of its strength,
bombs military targets surrounded by large civilian centers.
Dresden, Cologne, Pforzheim, Nuremberg and Munich all
suffer massive collateral damage.
When news of the devastation begins to leak,
the Eighth's public relations officers are told to stress
how each bombing mission is only meant to hit a military target.
They are to downplay any civilian casualties caused by the attacks.
By the end of the war, there will never be any official
record that the Eighth targeted civilian areas.
But in the months leading up to the bombing of these German cities,
President Roosevelt wrote to his secretary of war.
"It is of the utmost importance that every person in Germany
should realize that this time, Germany is a defeated nation.
The fact that they are a defeated nation must be so
impressed upon them that they will hesitate to start any new war.
Too many people here and in England hold to the view that
the German people as a whole are not responsible for what
has taken place, that only a few Nazi leaders are responsible.
That unfortunately is not based on fact.
The German people as a whole must have it driven home to
them that the whole nation has been engaged in a lawless conspiracy
against the decencies of modern civilization."
By the end of April 1945, Germany is on the brink of surrender.
The Nazi government is in shambles and the military is spent.
The Germans are completely surrounded by Allied forces.
Finally, on May 8th, 1945, what's left of Nazi high command
agrees to unconditionally surrender to the Allies.
The war in Europe is officially over.
♪ ♪
After the deaths of 26,000 of their brothers,
the roughly 200,000 men of the Eighth Air Force in bases all
around England are finally ready to close up shop and go home.
TRUMAN (over radio): This is a solemn but glorious hour.
General Eisenhower informs me that the forces of Germany have
surrendered to the United Nations.
The flags of freedom fly all over Europe.
PILOT: London has become a madhouse, a beautiful, beautiful madhouse.
PILOT: London has just gone crazy.
PILOT: There wasn't a dry eye in the house.
PILOT: There's a conga line down Piccadilly Circus.
PILOT: I'd be walking through a throng of people with a
pretty girl on my arm and all of a sudden, she was gone,
replaced by another one.
PILOT: One of our airmen pledged never to take a drink,
an hour later, we found him drunk in the gutter.
PILOT: I'm just glad this is over.
DOOLITTLE: We took the Luftwaffe out of the sky and
made all other successes possible.
Their roads, bridges, railroads,
communications are all in complete disarray.
I'm proud of my men.
NARRATOR: General Doolittle's celebration is short-lived.
With the great victory in Europe come sobering new
orders for his Mighty Eighth.
(gunfire, explosions).
DOOLITTLE: The war isn't over. We're not done.
I've got new mission orders.
(gunfire).
The Eighth Air Force is getting redeployed.
We're going to Japan.
NARRATOR: In the Pacific, the Eighth's story will cross
paths with their former star pilot.
The man who led their first B-17 daylight bombing mission
over German occupied territory,
Paul Warfield Tibbets.
For nearly a year, he's been in the deserts of
the United States leading a top secret mission.
One that will change the world for generations to come.
TIBBETS: We cannot discuss the nature of our operation with anyone.
My family must be having a difficult time.
I've had to lie to my own wife.
But if we pull this off, we can end the war.
NARRATOR: After leaving the Eighth Air Force back in 1942,
Colonel Paul Tibbets makes his way back to the States.
He's there to help engineers test fly the most
technologically advanced plane in the Air Corps arsenal.
It carries more bombs and goes farther, higher,
and faster than any other bomber.
It's called the B-29 Superfortress.
Tibbets spends over a year test-flying the bomber logging
more hours in it than anyone else in the world.
Then, in September of 1944, the man who is considered one
of the best pilots in the Army Air Forces is briefed on the
Allies' biggest secret,
the Manhattan Project.
TIBBETS: I've been entrusted with the successful delivery
of the most frightful weapon ever devised.
I have a great deal to learn, there will be no room for error.
NARRATOR: Tibbets and his crews spend months training in the desert
waiting to see if they will be called into action.
The Allies do everything in their power to force the
Japanese to surrender.
In March 1945, Curtis LeMay, the Eighth's former tactical
genius, now commander of the 20th Air Force launches a
firebombing campaign over Tokyo.
85,000 die in one night.
But the Japanese will not relent.
DOOLITTLE: We land on July 17th and officially establish
the Eighth Air Force in the Pacific theater.
Things are much more primitive here than the life we led in England.
We're living in tents now.
The wind blows in one end and out the other.
NARRATOR: Ten weeks after the German surrender,
General Doolittle and his officers set up shop
on the island of Okinawa.
Equipped with brand new B-29s and P-51s,
the men of the Eighth Air Force begin their preparations
to join another bloody air war.
DOOLITTLE: We're now officially in business.
But we won't be ready to start bombing until next month.
And I keep getting letters from boys asking to come join
the Eighth in the Pacific.
NARRATOR: What Doolittle and the Eighth don't know is that
they'll never drop another bomb again.
After months of training, Tibbets and his men are also
transferred to the South Pacific.
On August 5th, 1945, Colonel Tibbets gets the all clear,
the mission he has been training for,
for close to a year, is a go.
The next day, at 2:45 AM, Tibbets and the crew of the
Enola Gay leave their base on the island of Tinian.
Traveling a little over five hours to the city of Hiroshima.
There, at 8:15 local time, Tibbet's turns control over
to his bombardier.
REPORTER: Colonel Tibbets, will you tell us some of your reactions over the target?
TIBBETS: Well, as the bomb left the airplane,
we took over manual control, made an extremely steep turn
to try and put as much distance between ourselves and
the explosion as possible.
After we felt the explosion hit the airplane,
that is the concussion waves, we knew that the bomb had
explosion, had exploded, everything was a success.
So we turned around to take a look at it.
The sight that greeted our eyes was quite beyond what we
had expected because we saw this cloud of boiling dust and
debris below us with this tremendous mushroom on top.
Beneath that was hidden the ruins of the city of Hiroshima.
The first time I dropped bombs on a target, I said to myself,
"People are getting killed down there that don't have
any business getting killed.
Those are not soldiers." If I get to thinking about
some innocent person getting hit on the ground,
I won't be worth anything if I do that.
I am supposed to be a bomber pilot and destroy a target.
I made up my mind then that the morality of dropping that
bomb was not my business.
I was instructed to perform a military mission to drop the bomb.
Morality, there's no such thing in warfare.
I don't care whether you're dropping atom bombs or
100-pound bombs, or shooting a rifle.
You've got to leave the moral issue out of it.
NARRATOR: The Eighth already enjoys legendary status
worldwide as the group that destroyed Hitler's Air Force.
General Doolittle is told that if he wants the Eighth to get
credit for also serving in the Pacific theater,
he should put his men in the air immediately.
But even though Japan doesn't surrender after Hiroshima,
the end is obviously near.
DOOLITTLE: If the war is over,
I will not risk one airplane nor a single bomber crew member
just to be able to say the Eighth Air Force had
operated against the Japanese in Asia.
They've done their job. It's time for us to go home.
NARRATOR: Three days after Hiroshima,
one of Tibbets's pilots drops a second bomb, over Nagasaki.
♪ ♪
Six days later, Japan surrenders.
World War II is over.
And the men of the Eighth begin to make their way back
home to a brand new world.
A world where they are heroes.
Where America is now an atomic superpower.
350,000 men have served in the Eighth Air Force.
Their actions, accomplishments,
and sacrifices have altered the course of warfare...
forever.
♪ ♪