Writestream Radio Network

70 years ago this week, the decisive battles of the air war over Western Europe were fought, in what today is known as “Big Week.” During the series of massive aerial incursions into Germany, along with others in the weeks that followed, the U.S. 8th and 15th Air Forces struck targets deep inside Germany, with the specific goal of destroying Hitler's Luftwaffe and paving the way for Allied air supremacy for the remainder of World War II. Big Week was more than just a Maximum Effort” by the American air forces, but a complete revamp of the U.S. strategic air campaign which had suffered crippling losses for over a year. But new leadership in the form of the legendary Lieut. Gen. James H. “Jimmy” Doolittle, the introduction of the revolutionary P-51 Mustang fighter, and a radical tactics change turned the tide in the European air war. By making the Luftwaffe the primary target of the American air campaign, instead of targets on the ground, Doolittle and his flyers rapidly created the conditions to make Allied vi