Mighty and Victorious: How the Eighth Air Force and Its First Missions Changed the Air War in Europe, 1942-43

Step into the cockpit with the daring airmen who launched America’s fight for victory in Europe. Known as the Mighty Eighth and more recently as Masters of the Air, the U.S.Eighth Air Force was the most famous American air unit of World War II. From its activation in early 1942 as the VIII Bomber Command through the end of the war, the Eighth was a formidable fighting force, with a peak strength of more than 200,000 men and a devastating arsenal of bombers and fighters. An impressively detailed account based on primary sources, Mighty and Victorious follows the men and planes of the Eighth Air Force into the skies over Europe, where its missions played a pivotal role in winning victory in World War II. On August 17, 1942, the Eighth launched its first mission of the war as a dozen B-17 Flying Fortresses took off from an airfield in England to attack a German-controlled railyard in northern France. The pace and scale of operations accelerated over the next year, and the Eighth’s bombers