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6 September 1943
77 years ago today, Lucky Thirteen flew her seventh and final combat mission. 6 September 1943 VIII BC No. 91 Ramrod S. 35 384BG No. 21 The US 8AF launches 338 Boeing B-17s against the industrial district of Stuttgart, Germany while 69 Consolidated B-24s fly a diversionary route over the North Sea. The strike is led by CG […]
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3 September 1943
77 years ago today, Lucky Thirteen flew her sixth combat mission. Before beginning, it should be noted that Lucky Thirteen participated in a recall on 2 September 1943. Taking off at 3:15 pm, the 1BW was recalled from a strike due to bad weather. They returned with their loads at 6:45. 3 September 1943 VIII BC No. […]
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31 August 1943
77 years ago today, Lucky Thirteen flew her fifth combat mission. Before beginning, it should be noted that Lucky Thirteen participated in a recall on 30 August 1943. Taking off at 4:55 pm, the 1BW was recalled from a strike against the airfield of Bapaume-Grévillers due to bad weather. They returned with their loads between 6:36 and […]
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27 August 1943
77 years ago today, Lucky Thirteen flew her fourth combat mission. 27 August 1943 VIII BC No. 84 Ramrod S. 8 384BG No. 18 The US 8AF launches 224 Boeing B-17s, escorted by 173 Republic P-47s, against the Blockhaus d’Éperlecques (Bunker of Éperlecques) near Watten, France. Additional escort is provided by RAF 11 Group. The 384BG launches […]
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17 August 1943
77 years ago today, Lucky Thirteen flew her third combat mission. This is going to be a long one… 17 August 1943 VIII BC No. 84 Ramrod 206 384BG No. 17 The US 8AF launches 376 Boeing B-17s, escorted by 240 Republic P-47s with 75 gal droptanks, against Regensburg and Schweinfurt, Germany. Additional escort is provided by RAF […]
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16 August 1943
77 years ago today, Lucky Thirteen flew her second combat mission. 16 August 1943 VIII BC No. 83 Ramrod 203 384BG No. 16 The US 8AF launches 246 Boeing B-17s, escorted by 180 Republic P-47s with 75 gal belly tanks, against the airfields of Abbeville, Paris–Le Bourget, and Poé-d’Picardie, France. Additional escort is provided by […]
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15 August 1943
77 years ago today, Lucky Thirteen flew her first combat mission. With each anniversary, we would like to review her combat operations in real time. So, here goes… 15 August 1943 VIII BC No. 82 Ramrod 202 384BG No. 15 The US 8AF launches 327 Boeing B-17s, escorted by 187 Republic P-47s equipped with 75 […]
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Recent Donations
We recently received some fascinating donations from Jerry Carver of Lexington, South Carolina. These were given to us in the hope that they could be of some use to our project. Identifying exactly where these pieces came from was not easy, and we thank all of those on Facebook who came to our aid in […]
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Odds & Ends Pt. 2
We have been so busy working that we have been forced to split this latest update into two parts! This is Part Two. Longtime followers may remember our friend Jack Antonio donated a massive amount of radio equipment to our project back in September. Included in this donation was a complete RL-42 tailing antenna system. […]
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Odds & Ends Pt. 1
We have been so busy working that we have been forced to split this latest update into two parts! This is Part One. We were recently contacted by Stephanie Petrey, granddaughter of SSGT John F. Schimenek. A wonderful surprise! Schimenek flew as the left waist gunner on Lucky Thirteen during Operation JUGGLER – the 17 […]
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