B-24 Liberator- Combat Photograhs from the Mediterranean Theater of War

The B-24 Liberator served as the workhorse of the US armed forces and was used in every theater of war. Under the command of Colonel Halverson, a US task force known as HALPRO was sent to attack Japan, but was diverted en route and instead became embroiled in the Mediterranean theater, carrying out bombing raids to arrest the progress of Axis forces. Images of the early days of the RAF, HALPRO and the US’s 9th and 12th Air Forces illustrate the difficult sandy and dusty conditions in the North African desert, as well as the less sophisticated early model B-24s. Crossing the Adriatic would have brought different challenges: the B-24 was not best regarded as a ditching platform, and so the Isle of Vis off Croatia beckoned to crews dealing with fuel shortages and battle damage once they left the Croatian coast and were bound for Italy. Unit photographers captured dramatic scenes as bombers were struck with flak and control was lost and many are included in this illustrated volume.