"With retreating German forces losing their oilfields on the Eastern Front, Germany was reliant on its own facilities, particularly for producing synthetic oil from coal. However, these were within range of the increasingly mighty Allied air forces. In 1944 the head of the US St…
Operation Crossbow 1944: hunting Hitler's V-weapons
by Zaloga, Steve, Turner, Graham
fromAir campaign
Operation Crossbow 1944: hunting Hitler's V-weapons
by Zaloga, Steve, Turner, Graham
fromAir campaign
Rolling Thunder 1965-68: Johnson's air war over vietnam
by Tooby, Adam, Hallion, Richard
fromAir campaign
"The bombing campaign that was meant to keep South Vietnam secure, Rolling Thunder became a byword for pointless, ineffective brutality, and was a key factor in America's Vietnam defeat. But in its failures, Rolling Thunder was one of the most influential air campaigns of the Co…
"Operation Rolling Thunder was the campaign that was meant to keep South Vietnam secure, and dissuade the North from arming and supplying the Viet Cong. It pitted the world's strongest air forces against the MiGs and missiles of a small Communist state. But the US airmen who fle…
Rolling Thunder 1965-68: Johnson's air war over Vietnam
by Tooby, Adam, Hallion, Richard
fromAir campaign
Operation Rolling Thunder was the campaign that was meant to keep South Vietnam secure, and dissuade the North from arming and supplying the Viet Cong. It pitted the world's strongest air forces against the MiGs and missiles of a small Communist state. But the US airmen who flew…
"The bombing campaign that was meant to keep South Vietnam secure, Rolling Thunder became a byword for pointless, ineffective brutality, and was a key factor in America's Vietnam defeat. But in its failures, Rolling Thunder was one of the most influential air campaigns of the Co…
"The Trails War formed a major part of the so-called "secret war" in South East Asia, yet for complex political reasons, including the involvement of the CIA, it received far less coverage than campaigns like Rolling Thunder and Linebacker. Nevertheless, the campaign had a profo…
"The Trails War formed a major part of the so-called "secret war" in South East Asia, yet for complex political reasons, including the involvement of the CIA, it received far less coverage than campaigns like Rolling Thunder and Linebacker. Nevertheless, the campaign had a profo…
"In 1940, the strategically vital island of Malta was Britain's last toehold in the central Mediterranean, wreaking havoc among Axis shipping. Launching an air campaign to knock Malta out of the war, first Italy and then Germany sought to force a surrender or reduce the defences…
In 1940, the strategically vital island of Malta was Britain's last toehold in the central Mediterranean, wreaking havoc among Axis shipping. Launching an air campaign to knock Malta out of the war, first Italy and then Germany sought to force a surrender or reduce the defences …
"In 1943, the USAAF and RAF launched the Combined Bomber Offensive, designed to systematically destroy the industries that the German war machine relied on. At the top of the hit list were aircraft factories and plants making ball-bearings - a component thought to be a critical …
In 1942, the massive Japanese naval base and airfield at Rabaul was a fortress standing in the Allies' path to Tokyo. It was impossible to seize Rabaul, or starve the 100,000-strong garrison out. Instead the US began an innovative, hard-fought two-year air campaign to draw its t…
Battle of Britain 1940: the Luftwaffe's 'Eagle Attack'
by Turner, Graham, Dildy, Doug
fromAir campaign
The Battle of Britain was one of the most iconic campaigns of World War II, where the Few of the Royal Air Force took on the might of the German Luftwaffe. At stake was not just air superiority over the British Isles a German victory would enable Hitler's plan to invade and conq…
"In August 1940, the Luftwaffe began an operation to destroy or neutralize RAF Fighter Command, and enable Hitler to invade Britain that autumn. It was a new type of air warfare: the first ever offensive counter-air campaign against an integrated air defence system. Powerful, co…