Museum Audio Tour 10: Air Power Gallery: Taking the Offensive - Europe

DAYTON, OHIO, UNITED STATES

12.31.1969

Audio by NMUSAF PA 

National Museum of the U.S. Air Force

In late 1941, Britain's Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt met in Washington. For several weeks, they and their advisors shaped a strategy for the war against the Axis powers. The two Allies agreed that Nazi Germany had to be defeated first while they fought only a holding action in the Pacific. Once the European war was won, they would turn their combined efforts to defeat Japan. The first fighter Americans used against the Germans was the twin engine P-38 Lightning. German pilots called it a “Fork tailed devil” because of its distinctive twin booms and, by many accounts, it lived up to its name. You will also notice examples of Allied and Axis aircraft in this part of the gallery. Across from the P-38 is the British De Havilland DH-98 Mosquito and the Supermarine Spitfire Mark XI (Eleven). Around the corner, you will find the German Luftwaffe’s Messerschmitt Bf 109, Junkers [pronounced Yunkers] Ju-88 and Focke-Wulf FW 190. Perhaps the best known of the World War Two bombers was the Boeing B-17, also known as the Flying Fortress. More than 12,000 of these bombers were built. They flew in every combat zone of the war, but were especially famous for their operations flying out of England against the industrial targets of Germany. The B-17G Shoo Shoo Shoo Baby on display here is one such combat veteran. It flew a total of 24 combat missions. For further information about the European Theater of Operations, go to the Carney Auditorium and listen to Dr. Donald L. Miller’s presentation “Masters of the Air,” Doug Lantry’s discussion of Code Machines, Jeff Duford’s lecture on the P-47 Thunderbolt or Wolfgang Samuel’s speech on Operation Lusty.

• Date Taken: 12.31.1969
• Date Posted: 09.02.2015 12:14
• Category: Newscasts
• Audio ID: 41898
• Filename: 1509/DOD_102704052.mp3
• Length: 00:01:57
• Album: Museum Audio Tour
• Track #: 10
• Location: DAYTON, OHIO, US