B-17 Flying Fortress Units of the MTO (Combat Aircraft)

Osprey's study of the B-17 Flying Fortress Units of World War II (1939-1945). Although the Fifteenth Air Force was dismissed as 'minor leaguers' by the Eighth Air Force, strategic bombers from this outfit had done a 'major league' job on Axis targets in southern Europe following its formation in Italy in November 1943. And the heavy bombers employed by the Fifteenth were of course the venerable B-17 and B-24. At its peak strength, the Fifteenth's B-17 force comprised six groups of four squadrons each, all controlled by the 5th Bomb Wing. Having been a part of the Fifteenth Air Force in 1944, author Bill Hess has long been waiting to write a definitive account on 'his air force'. Although the Fifteenth Air Force was dismissed as "minor leaguers" by the Eighth Air Force, strategic bombers from this outfit had done a "major league" job on axis targets in southern Europe following its formation in Italy in 1943. This work covers the Fifteenth Air Force. Before being sent to the Mediterranean, the founding units of what would eventually become the Fifteenth Air Force had kicked off the USAAF's strategic bombing campaign with the fledgling Eighth Air Force in the late summer of 1942. Beskriver den amerikanske bombestyrke - 15th Air Force - og dens bombeoperationer i Middelhavsområdet under 2. verdenskrig