D-Day, 6th of June

An Airfield in England

It is early morning, Andy did not sleep very well last night, and neither did over 100,000 other folks. The one man who probably did not sleep at all was Dwight D. Eisenhower. This was his day, the day when "Operation Overlord" would either succeed of fail. The outcome of WWII depended on this day.

Andy got up, dressed in his flight suit, grabbed his flight bag, and headed to the flight line. He was met there by his crew, five other men who all knew this was no ordinary day. I suppose they all thanked God that they were airmen, not foot soldiers riding in boats at this moment.

On the ramp is a line of brown, twin engined B-26 bombers. One of those ships is Andy's. As Andy and the crew looked over charts in the briefing room, they were loading the bombs they would deliver today. The briefing late last night laid out the plan for this mission. They were going to bomb targets in France to help divert attention from the shoreline, and to weaken the German ability to defend against the attack. There was sure to be fierce air cover from the Luftwaffe, but the hope was that they would be confused about where to defend: the bombers, or the shoreline.

The crew walked across the ramp to their craft. the B-26 was called the Maurader, but it had had an evil nickname: "Widow Maker". Andy knew this craft was quite a handful to fly, but he was good at this. The ship had carried them safely on many missions over France before. After today's flight, if all went well, they would be moving into France, and their new targets would all be over Germany.

If Overlord succeeded, Germany was not going to win this war, and that what was at stake this morning. It weighed heavily on the minds of everyone involved.

Andy climbed up into the hatch below the cockpit, then turned forward and made his way to the left seat in the front of the ship. His copilit, Ed Ochen, made his way to the right seat. Also in the crew was a navigator/bombardier, who crawled back to a small desk behind the pilot, and three gunners, who moved into position just in front of the bomb load where they manned guns used to defend against fighter attacks.

Ed and Andy went through the pre-flight checklist, making sure all the systems were working right, and the controls all moved as they should.

Then Ed read the engine-start checklist, and Andy fired up the two Pratt & Whitney radial engines, each providing 2200 hosepower. These engines could fly them at just under 300 miles per hour, for almost 3000 miles if needed. Today, they would not be flying that far.

The entire airplane shook heavily as those engines belched smoke and started running. It was loud, but oddly reassuring. Andy knew this sound well. Every beat of those engines was familiar to him. He oould tell in an instant if something was wrong in them. Pilots get to this point, especially when their lives depend on those engines.

Andy worked the two throttle levers and settled them into a normal idle while they completed the checklist.

Andy radioed the control tower that he was ready to taxi, as did dozens of other crews. All these ships were parked in a line along the ramp, and all were running now. When the tower gave the signal, one by one they advanced the throttles and started the birds moving. As soon as the plane on the left began to turn down the ramp, Andy followed into line. As they taxied, the entire crew went through system checks to make sure they were as ready as they could be.

Slowly, they moved along the runway to the far end. The ship was heavy, with a full load of fuel and bombs. It weighed in at 37,000 pounds, 4000 of which were bombs. It was a pig to maneuver on the ground.

Then it was their turn to fly. Andy had both hands on the control wheel. Ed advanced the throttles to full power, and Andy began the pilot dance that gets a plane into the air. Focus on the end of the runway, move the rudder pedals to steer straight toward that point. Keep the wings level. When Ed called out the right speed to "rotate", Andy pulled back on the controls to lift the nose slightly. The ship was accelerating, becoming light on the wheels.

Then they were flying. Ed retracted the landing gear, and Andy concentrated on climbing up to 5000 feet where he would join into a formation formed by all the other bombers in the group.

The navigator was working out their position on the flight map on a tiny desk he sat by, calling out directions for the pilots.

They climbed up to their cruising altitude, over 20,000 feet. High enough that it was a tough job for the Luftwaffe fighters to reach them, and aimed their birds to the East.

And into history.

I will let you imagine the rest of the mission. The cold, the fear, the determination that they would get this job done. Not one man on this ship, or in this formation, or on any of those ships, was unaware that this might be their last day. But they did their job. Their country depended on them. The entire free world depended on them, and they knew that.

Imagine what that had to feel like as you enjoy your breakfast this morning.

Did They Succeed?

You should know the answer.

Thank God for what all these men did this day in history. Celebrate the freedom you have because of the price they paid. Never take your freedom for granted, and never disrespect those in uniform. While you sit in your easy life, they fought for you, sometimes to their last breath, to give you that!

Thank you, Andy, for your brave actions during that war. Thanks for guiding me in my early life, and inspiring me to get into aviation. May God watch over you and Evelyn.

Respectfully,

Roie R. Black Major, USAF (retired)