Description:
As the last of the returning B-24s roar into the pattern, the regular routine on the ground continues. The tired crew of the damaged B-24 in the foreground leaves its aircraft and trickles over to the ground transport, while the ground crew scrambles over the plane checking for damage from German fighters and flak. The flight crew's maximum effort is over for the day; the ground crew's maximum effort is just beginning. Their efforts would continue through the night readying the plane for another raid on another day, during that long winter and spring in Italy in 1944. On a broad canvas, artist James Dietz has captured detail after detail of what it was like to be on a bomber field with the 15th Air Force after a tough mission. Weary flight crews dragging their flight bags, quick debriefing of officers, while the crew chief or flight engineer discusses the damage to Number 3 engine with the ground crew. In the background, another B-24 taxis into its ground position through the mud that plagued most airfields in Italy in 1944. The skeletal remains of the pre-war dirigible hangars mark this as the Grottaglie wartime home of the 449th Air Bombardment Group, but the situation is typical of most of the B-24's operating with the 15th Air Force that winter. Long overlooked in comparison with the seemingly more glamorous 8th Air Force in England, the Bombardment Groups in Italy, who were operating under far more primitive circumstances, took the war to the far-flung corners of the Mediterranean--Ploesti, the Balkans, Austria, France, and the heart of the Reich, Germany, in cooperation with the 8th. In 1944, the 15th suffered especially severe losses while it inflicted heavy damage on German industry and armed forces. It was with the help of many veterans of this action that the artist was able to capture in the magnificent print, the story, mood and detail of the heavy bombardment campaign waged by the 15th Air Force. A careful blending of flights crew, support people and the powerful Consolidated B-24 illustrates the three necessary elements of aerial warfare. The aircraft pictured, "Paper Doll" and "Reluctant Liz," are typical of the period. Both were later lost in raids over Romania.
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