The Mighty Eighth Podcast

In this episode, we tell the story of Operation Aphrodite – the top secret missions against Hitler’s vengeance weapons – the terrifying V1 flying bombs and V2 rockets which devastated London in 1944 and 1945. Join us as we take you on the journey – from beginning to end – right up to the present day. And discover the somewhat surprising legacy of the weapons themselves – and the fight against them...

The Kassel mission of 27 September 1944 was one of the most devastating raids of the war – not because of the bombs dropped but because of the aircrew and planes lost. Some 35 B-24 Liberators from the 445th Bomb Group took from Tibenham airfield in Norfolk to bomb the Henschel tank works in the German city of Kassel. But only four of those planes returned home safely. It was the greatest single-da...

A special episode previewing Silver Wings – a new project honouring the influence of the United States Eighth Army Air Force during World War Two – and its impact on communities in the East of England. Presented by The Forum in partnership with the American Memorial Library in Norwich (UK), Silver Wings shines a spotlight on the stories of American servicemen and women stationed in Norfolk. This 1...

Meet the American pilots who defied their country's neutrality to fly for the RAF in WW2. In this Wings of Defiance episode, we tell the story of the Eagle Squadrons – American volunteer pilots who joined the Royal Air Force before the USA joined the war. We explain how pilots were recruited and how what they did was technically illegal because the USA was neural in the conflict. We take a trip to...

It was one of the most audacious air attacks of World War II – a low-level raid designed to cut off Hitler's fuel supply by bombing the Ploesti oil refineries in Romania. Taking place on Sunday, August 1, 1943, Operation Tidal Wave saw five B-24 Liberator bomb groups take off from Libya and fly in complete radio silence across the Mediterranean towards their target. In this episode, we tell the st...

A special bonus episode about Ops Normal – the authorised operational history of Britain's Army Air Corps by John Greenacre and Mike Peters, co-host of the Mighty Eighth Podcast. Since its formation in 1957, the Army Air Corps has played a prominent role in almost every British Army operation in modern times. A comprehensive operational history of the Army Air Corps experience, the book provides a...

It was a mission which started just like any other: but it ended when the B-17 Flying Fortress "Little Boy Blue" crashed into a farmer's field in Suffolk, England. Eight of the ten air crew were killed that day – and 80 years on, we join their families in that very same field to honour their memory. We speak to Brian Cracknell – one of the last remaining eye-witnesses of the Little Boy Blue air cr...

Just how much of a game changer was the North American P-51 Mustang fighter plane in the battle for air supremacy in the skies over Europe? We find out in this episode, with a visit to Bottisham Airfield Museum – home to the 361st Fighter Group in Cambridgeshire. We look at the development of the Mustang – and how an American airframe matched with a Rolls Royce Merlin engine helped change the...

In this episode, we tell the story of the Night of the Intruders, when Luftwaffe fighters followed a stream of American B-24 Liberator bombers back to England and shot them out of the sky as they tried to land. It was a disastrous end to Mission 311, which took place on 22 April, 1944, less than two months before D-Day. The raid saw 824 Mighty Eighth bombers target the nerve centre of the Third Re...

In this episode, we tell the story of the first American daylight bombing raid over Berlin, which took place on March 4, 1944. The mission was led by the 95th Bomb Group – the only Eighth Air Force Bomb Group to receive the Distinguished Unit Citation three times. We visit the Red Feather Club at Horham in Suffolk – including the Blue Lounge dance hall, Brad's Bar and the 95th Bomb Group museum. W...

In this episode, we visit the American Air Museum at Duxford for a hotly contested debate: which was the best WW2 heavy bomber? Was it the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress or was it the Consolidated B-24 Liberator? The museum is home to the biggest collection of American military aircraft on public display outside the USA. And it is the only place in the UK where you can stand side by side between a Fo...

The 100th Bomb Group is probably the most famous bomb group of them all – and the focus of the Stephen Spielberg / Tom Hanks TV mini-series Masters of the Air. Nicknamed the Bloody Hundredth, it had a 'bad luck' reputation, sustaining heavy losses of men and planes on numerous disastrous missions. But just how unlucky was the 100th Bomb Group? What is myth? And what is the truth? In this episode,...

The 'maximum effort' mission on Christmas Eve 1944 was the biggest ever by the Eighth Air Force. This was the Mighty Eighth's 760th mission – with 2,046 heavy bombers and 853 fighters taking to the sky. It meant "everything that can fly, will fly" as the USAAF entered the Battle of the Bulge to protect Allied troops from the Nazi war machine. It was the biggest air armada ever seen – a bomber stre...

In this episode, we visit the crash site of a top-secret B-17 Flying Fortress which went down soon after take-off in November 1943. The B-17F Flying Fortress 42-5793 was among the most secret aircraft of its kind – one of the first American bombers fitted with a new type of radar. The plane crashed only minutes into what should have been a flight from Thorpe Abbots, in Norfolk; to Alconbury,...

It was the Mighty Eighth's most ambitious mission yet: a twin-strike into the heart of Nazi Germany. This dual-pronged raid on August 17, 1943, saw more than 350 B-17 bombers despatched to bomb the cities of Schweinfurt and Regensburg. The goal was to strike a major blow against the Nazi war machine by taking out three ball-bearing factories at Schweinfurt and the Messerschmidt factory at Regensbu...

In this episode, we pay tribute to the thousands of Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice during World War Two while fighting for freedom. We do so by visiting Cambridge American Cemetery in eastern England, which commemorates almost 9,000 American personnel. We tell the stories of some of those men and women who are buried here – and those listed on the Wall of the Missing. We also tell the s...

Just how do you put hundreds of B17 Flying Fortresses into the sky, send them on a bombing mission over occupied Europe – and then bring them home again? In this episode, we find out during a visit to USAAF Station 153 (Framlingham) – home to the 390th Bomb Group during World War Two. We visit the Control Tower – home to Parham Airfield Museum , which commemorates the 390th and other Allied airmen...

Welcome to the Mighty 8th Podcast – the podcast about the people, planes and places of the United States Eighth Army Air Force. In this very first episode, we visit Grafton Underwood – where B-17 bombers took to the skies for the very first America-led mission over occupied Europe in World War Two. The first American-led mission using USAAF Flying Fortresses targeted the railway marshalling yards...