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#OnThisDay Bomber Command War Diary – 24 December 1944 On Christmas Eve 1944, as the Battle of the Bulge raged across the Ardennes, Bomber Command was in action deep over Germany. A force of 338 aircraft —248 Halifaxes, 79 Lancasters, 11 Mosquitos from No. 4, 6 and 8 Groups struck Luftwaffe airfields at Lohausen and Mülheim (today Düsseldorf and Essen airports). Although the official purpose was not recorded, these raids were almost certainly aimed at crippling German air transport, disrupting t

Development of the Boeing Superfortress "very heavy bomber" began late in 1939, and the first XB-29 made its initial flight on Sept. 21, 1942. In a bold wartime gamble, the AAF ordered the plane into quantity production months before that first flight. Among the B-29's new features were pressurized crew compartments and a central fire-control system with remotely controlled gun turrets. Flying combat missions first from India and China and later from the Marianas Islands, the Superfortress repea