Word: flak
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...Marauder) called Hell's Belle was on the run to its target when a burst of flak struck the plane. The bombardier was hit. A staff sergeant, serving both as radio operator and waist gunner, had his right leg nearly severed. The pilot shouted to the bombardier to forget the bombs, but he leaned over, dripping blood on his bombsight. and let them go. An Me-109 approached. The wounded sergeant dragged himself to his gun, shot down the Messerschmitt, then picked up a camera and photographed the crash. Two other gunners gave him a shot of morphine...
...Flak caught another B-26 over the same target, killed the pilot. His body fell forward and threw the ship out of control. The copilot, Flight Officer Stanley B. Farley Jr., lifted the pilot off the controls and pulled the plane out of a spin. The gunners were all wounded, but they crawled forward and dragged the pilot's body out of Farley's way. He had never landed a B26, a plane so "hot" on landing that many experienced pilots do not like to fly it. But Farley brought his B-26 in gently, drifting...
...First Landing. Sicily lay below, bathed in light from a crescent moon. Bombing and diversionary flights had prepared the way. "The flak was some, not so much," said Photographer Capa. The formation came over its objective. Inside the plane the red light winked...
What happened at Messina is an old story now. [In 18 minutes the Fortresses saturated the port and marshaling yards so thoroughly that when the raid was over the target, area was obscured by fire and smoke. The Germans attacked viciously, flying into their own flak while the Forts made their bombing runs, dropping small bombs on the tight formations of the U.S. planes. In the bitter fight over Messina, 20 Nazis were shot down. But the Forts got through and hit two ships in the harbor, plastered warehouses, docks, railroad tracks, stations. Despite the heavy Axis defenses, total Allied...
...from Elisofon letters. Sample: "I went on two bombing missions. The first was a sweep on the lookout for Axis shipping. ... I got into a Mitchell's nose. . . . We fan across some shipping. The tankers were escorted by two Axis destroyers. ... I was so petrified by seeing the flak coming up towards us ... that I made practically no pictures over the target. I have no shots of the destroyers or the flak. It was all I could do to get the single shot of the tanker through the nose of the plane...