Chetniks
148-597: Uprisings 1942 1943 1944 1945 Operation Halyard (or Halyard Mission ), known in Serbian as Operation Air Bridge ( Serbian : Операција Ваздушни мост , romanized : Operacija Vazdušni most ), was an Allied airlift operation behind Axis lines during World War II. In July 1944, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) drew up plans to send a team to the Chetniks force led by General Draža Mihailović in
296-576: A Consolidated B-24 Liberator , part of the United States Navy 's contribution ("Project Anvil"), en route for Heligoland piloted by Lieutenant Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. (future U.S. president John F. Kennedy 's elder brother) exploded over the Blyth estuary . Blast damage was caused over a radius of 5 miles (8.0 km). Naval flights stopped but a few more missions were flown by the USAAF. The Aphrodite project
444-572: A 20% increase in aircraft weight. The B-17's turbocharged Wright R-1820 Cyclone 9 engines were upgraded to increasingly more powerful versions of the same powerplants throughout its production, and similarly, the number of machine gun emplacement locations was increased. The B-17F variant was the primary version used by the Eighth Air Force to face the Germans in 1943, and standardized the manned Sperry ball turret for ventral defense, also replacing
592-706: A Gestapo building in Belgrade in a German officers' uniform. Captain Vučković ordered the man to be executed. However, the civilian was reprieved at the last minute when he showed Vučković a letter signed by Mihailović. The incident was reported to the general, who ordered that he be sent to his headquarters. Popov was a double agent for the Yugoslavs and British in the Gestapo. He was also Dušan Popov 's brother. Popov (British codenamed Dreadnought , Yugoslav (Chetnik) codenamed Eskulap ),
740-661: A USAAC competition, Boeing's prototype Model 299/XB-17 outperformed two other entries but crashed, losing the initial 200-bomber contract to the Douglas B-18 Bolo . Still, the Air Corps ordered 13 more B-17s for further evaluation, which were introduced into service in 1938. The B-17 evolved through numerous design advances but from its inception, the USAAC (from 1941 the United States Army Air Forces , USAAF) promoted
888-412: A committee of the airmen to discuss the preparations that would need to be made before evacuation could take place. He discovered that there were approximately 250 airmen divided into six groups and housed within a ten-mile radius of the airstrip at Galovića polje (Galovica field) near Pranjani. Musulin established a courier service between the mission and the various groups in order to provide daily news on
1036-594: A far greater threat to Yugoslavia than the German occupation forces. Renewed Allied support was Mihailovic's only means of reversing the Partisan takeover. There was absolutely nothing to be gained by turning American airmen over to the Germans. In fact, evacuated Americans were a significant source of first rate public relations on behalf of the Chetniks. In late 1944, only Americans displayed any outward concern for what might happen to
1184-517: A fire burned as a previously agreed signal. OSS intelligence agents Captain George Musulin, Lieutenant Michael Rayachich, and Sergeant Arthur Jiblian and their radio equipment descended by parachute; they were there to set the operation up. Captain Musulin's first task was to request from Mihailović that all the rescued airmen be gathered in the area for the forthcoming evacuation. Musulin was assured that
1332-510: A further five squadrons of Spitfire Vs to cover the withdrawal) on the first USAAF heavy bomber raid over Europe, against the large railroad marshalling yards at Rouen -Sotteville in France, while a further six aircraft flew a diversionary raid along the French coast. The operation, carried out in good visibility, was a success, with only minor damage to one aircraft, unrelated to enemy action, and half
1480-540: A grand total of 432 U.S. and 80 Allied personnel were airlifted during the Halyard Mission. According to Robert Donia, allied air operations over Partisan territory in Yugoslavia were strategically significant and extensive in scope. Evaders’ forms show that airmen landed on much of Yugoslavia from eastern Serbia to Slovenia and even on Bulgaria. Evacuees most frequently mentioned airstrips at Tičevo, Sanski Most and on
1628-553: A half-hour battle, one plane caught fire and was forced to land between the villages of Pločnik and Beloljin , in the Toplica River valley. By early July 1944, over one hundred airmen were in areas under Chetnik control. The German and Bulgarian occupation forces in Serbia that had spotted the damaged aircraft and open parachutes pursued the airmen. However, Chetniks under Mihailović had already reached them. The Germans offered cash for
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#17328524661671776-556: A legal loophole, the Air Corps ordered 13 YB-17s (designated Y1B-17 after November 1936 to denote its special F-1 funding) for service testing. The YB-17 incorporated a number of significant changes from the Model 299, including more powerful Wright R-1820 -39 Cyclone engines. Although the prototype was company-owned and never received a military serial (the B-17 designation itself did not appear officially until January 1936, nearly three months after
1924-486: A meeting with Tito on 23 January 1944, orders went out to all Partisan units to do everything possible to locate downed airmen and conduct them safely to the nearest Allied liaison team. Efforts to retrieve aircrews from Chetnik-controlled areas ran afoul of the tangled web of Balkan politics. The British, who considered that part of the world within their sphere of interest, had shifted their support to Tito and were determined to sever all ties with Mihailović lest they offend
2072-478: A number of B-17Gs were also converted for search-and-rescue duties, later to be redesignated B-17H. Late in World War ;II, at least 25 B-17s were fitted with radio controls and television cameras, loaded with 20,000 lb (9,100 kg) of high explosives and designated BQ-7 "Aphrodite missiles" for Operation Aphrodite against bombing-resistant German bunkers. The operation, which involved remotely flying
2220-586: A political mission to London using the same evacuation. The mission was led by the President of the Socialist Party of Yugoslavia , Živko Topalović . Topalović had been a member of the Labour and Socialist International party before the war. He intended to meet with British political leaders to influence them to change Winston Churchill 's decision to abandon Mihailović and support Josip Broz Tito . Topalović's mission
2368-484: A radio. The officer in charge of the mission brought word that the landing strip was not considered usable by the 15th Air Force and that no landing would be made until a great amount of work had been done to it. After setting up an improvised radio station with the new equipment, Captain Brooks left one officer in charge of the construction work necessary at this particular field, gave him detailed instructions on how to complete
2516-620: A report to General Mihailović that the jobs around the airport were completed. British authorities thought the airstrip was too short. Eleven airmen, including John P. Devlin, wanted to go on foot to the Adriatic Sea. Mihailovic provided supporting units and they started out on 19 April, after a ceremonial send-off in Pranjani. The remaining aviators were unable to walk due to injuries and illness. A few dozen more airmen reached Pranjani in late April. Vučković divided them into two groups. The first, from
2664-650: A sufficient supply of modern heavy bombers, with the largest available long-range medium bombers in any numbers being the Vickers Wellington , which could carry 4,500 pounds (2,000 kg) of bombs. While the Short Stirling and Handley Page Halifax became its primary bombers by 1941, in early 1940, the RAF agreed with the U.S. Army Air Corps to acquire 20 B-17Cs, which were given the service name Fortress Mk.I. Their first operation, against Wilhelmshaven on 8 July 1941
2812-518: A test flight determining the rate of climb and service ceiling was planned. The command pilot was Major Ployer Peter Hill , Wright Field Material Division Chief of the Flying Branch, his first flight in the Model 299. Copilot was Lieutenant Donald Putt, while Boeing chief test pilot Leslie R. Tower was behind the pilots in an advisory role. Also on board were Wright Field test observer John Cutting and mechanic Mark Koegler. The plane stalled and spun into
2960-584: A top speed of at least 200 mph (320 km/h). They also desired, but did not require, a bomber with a range of 2,000 mi (3,200 km) and a speed of 250 mph (220 kn; 400 km/h). The competition for the air corps contract was to be decided by a "fly-off" between Boeing's design, the Douglas DB-1 , and the Martin Model 146 at Wilbur Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio . The prototype B-17, with
3108-464: A well-framed, 10 panel plexiglass nose, the B-17Bs were delivered in five small batches between July 1939 and March 1940. In July 1940, an order for 512 B-17s was issued, but at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor , fewer than 200 were in service with the army. A total of 155 B-17s of all variants were delivered between 11 January 1937 and 30 November 1941, but production quickly accelerated, with
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#17328524661673256-665: Is clearly a single language with a single grammatical system." It has lower intelligibility with the Eastern South Slavic languages Bulgarian and Macedonian , than with Slovene (Slovene is part of the Western South Slavic subgroup, but there are still significant differences in vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation to the standardized forms of Serbo-Croatian, although it is closer to the Kajkavian and Chakavian dialects of Serbo-Croatian ). Speakers by country: Serbian
3404-458: Is practically the only European standard language whose speakers are fully functionally digraphic , using both Cyrillic and Latin alphabets. The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet was devised in 1814 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić , who created it based on phonemic principles. The Latin alphabet used for Serbian ( latinica ) was designed by the Croatian linguist Ljudevit Gaj in the 1830s based on
3552-517: Is shows that it was in accord with its time; for example, the Serbian Alexandride , a book about Alexander the Great , and a translation of Tristan and Iseult into Serbian. Although not belonging to the literature proper, the corpus of Serbian literacy in the 14th and 15th centuries contains numerous legal, commercial and administrative texts with marked presence of Serbian vernacular juxtaposed on
3700-560: Is the official and national language of Serbia , one of the three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina and co-official in Montenegro and Kosovo . It is a recognized minority language in Croatia , North Macedonia , Romania , Hungary , Slovakia , and the Czech Republic . Standard Serbian is based on the most widespread dialect of Serbo-Croatian, Shtokavian (more specifically on
3848-435: Is the only general historical dictionary of Serbo-Croatian. Its first editor was Đuro Daničić , followed by Pero Budmani and the famous Vukovian Tomislav Maretić . The sources of this dictionary are, especially in the first volumes, mainly Štokavian . There are older, pre-standard dictionaries, such as the 1791 German–Serbian dictionary or 15th century Arabic-Persian-Greek-Serbian Conversation Textbook . The standard and
3996-767: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Serbian, written in the Cyrillic script : Сва људска бића рађају се слободна и једнака у достојанству и правима. Она су обдарена разумом и свешћу и треба једни према другима да поступају у духу братства. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Serbian, written in the Latin alphabet : Sva ljudska bića rađaju se slobodna i jednaka u dostojanstvu i pravima. Ona su obdarena razumom i svešću i treba jedni prema drugima da postupaju u duhu bratstva. Article 1 of
4144-643: The German -occupied Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia for the purpose of evacuating Allied airmen shot down over that area. This team, known as the Halyard team, was commanded by Lieutenant George Musulin , along with Master Sergeant Michael Rajacich, and Specialist Arthur Jibilian, the radio operator. The team was detailed to the United States Fifteenth Air Force and designated as
4292-747: The Independent State of Croatia , the Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia , Bulgaria and Romania . Some of the most important targets were sources of petroleum and petroleum refineries in Romania. These installations were vital to Hitler's war machine and the main targets in the Oil Campaign of World War II . The Astra Română refinery in Ploiești alone provided one quarter of the Third Reich's fuel needs and
4440-453: The Japanese battleship Haruna , which was later acknowledged as a near bomb miss on the heavy cruiser Ashigara . Nonetheless, this deed made him a celebrated war hero . Kelly's B-17C AAF S/N 40-2045 (19th BG / 30th BS) crashed about 6 mi (10 km) from Clark Field after he held the burning Fortress steady long enough for the surviving crew to bail out. Kelly was posthumously awarded
4588-781: The Mediterranean Allied Air Forces , attached to the 15th Air Force, would be responsible for locating and evacuating Allied airmen throughout the Balkans. Selected to head the ACRU was Colonel George Kraigher of the AAF Transport Command. Kraigher had flown for the Royal Serbian Air Force in World War I. Prior to World War II, Kraigher had played a key role in developing a Pan American Airways air route from Miami to
Operation Halyard - Misplaced Pages Continue
4736-619: The Proto-Slavic language . There are many loanwords from different languages, reflecting cultural interaction throughout history. Notable loanwords were borrowed from Greek, Latin, Italian, Turkish, Hungarian, English, Russian, German, Czech and French. Serbian literature emerged in the Middle Ages , and included such works as Miroslavljevo jevanđelje ( Miroslav's Gospel ) in 1186 and Dušanov zakonik ( Dušan's Code ) in 1349. Little secular medieval literature has been preserved, but what there
4884-583: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in English: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is an American four-engined heavy bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). A fast and high-flying bomber,
5032-581: The Čačak - Užice road. Vučković reported the deaths of a few Chetnik soldiers in the fight. The fallen Chetniks were buried in a cemetery in Dljin village. Lieutenant Colonel Todor Gogić, commander of the Morava group Corps sent a radiogram to Mihailović on 17 April: On 15 April at about 11 hours, due to engine failure, a B-24 Liberator with a crew of 10 made an emergency landing near the village of Drenovac south of Paraćin . We managed to rescue nine crew members from
5180-545: The 15th Air Force, but one source indicates they were protected by six Royal Air Force Spitfires. Ground security was provided by the Morava group under Captain Aleksandar Milošević. A total of 237 men were evacuated. Serbian language Serbian ( српски / srpski , pronounced [sr̩̂pskiː] ) is the standardized variety of the Serbo-Croatian language mainly used by Serbs . It
5328-507: The 1st Air Crew Rescue Unit. It was the largest rescue operation of American airmen in history. According to historian Professor Jozo Tomasevich , a report submitted to the OSS showed that 417 Allied airmen who had been downed over occupied Yugoslavia were rescued by Mihailović's Chetniks, and airlifted out by the Fifteenth Air Force. According to Lieutenant Commander Richard M. Kelly (OSS),
5476-405: The 2006 Constitution . The Latin script continues to be used in official contexts, although the government has indicated its desire to phase out this practice due to national sentiment. The Ministry of Culture believes that Cyrillic is the "identity script" of the Serbian nation. However, the law does not regulate scripts in standard language , or standard language itself by any means, leaving
5624-404: The 8th, had ordered the second Schweinfurt mission to be cancelled as the weather deteriorated, but the lead units had already entered hostile air space and continued with the mission. Most of the escorts turned back or missed the rendezvous, and as a result, 60 B-17s were destroyed. A third raid on Schweinfurt on 24 February 1944 highlighted what came to be known as " Big Week ", during which
5772-822: The American and British bomber commands were organized at the Casablanca Conference in January 1943. The resulting " Combined Bomber Offensive " weakened the Wehrmacht , destroyed German morale, and established air superiority through Operation Pointblank 's destruction of German fighter strength in preparation for a ground offensive. The USAAF bombers attacked by day, with British operations – chiefly against industrial cities – by night. Operation Pointblank opened with attacks on targets in Western Europe. General Ira C. Eaker and
5920-644: The Aphrodite drones onto their targets by accompanying CQ-17 "mothership" control aircraft, was approved on 26 June 1944, and assigned to the 388th Bombardment Group stationed at RAF Fersfield , a satellite of RAF Knettishall . The first four drones were sent to Mimoyecques (V-3 site), the Siracourt V-1 bunker , and the V-2 Blockhaus d'Éperlecques at Watten, and La Coupole at Wizernes on 4 August, causing little damage and two pilots were killed. On August 12,
6068-667: The B-17 once holding the record for the highest production rate for any large aircraft. The aircraft went on to serve in every World War II combat zone, and by the time production ended in May 1945, 12,731 B-17s had been built by Boeing, Douglas , and Vega (a subsidiary of Lockheed ). Though the crash of the prototype 299 in 1935 had almost wiped out Boeing, now it was seen as a boon. Instead of building models based on experimental engineering, Boeing had been hard at work developing their bomber and now had versions ready for production far better than would have been possible otherwise. One of
Operation Halyard - Misplaced Pages Continue
6216-465: The B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater of Operations and dropped more bombs than any other aircraft during World War II . It is the third-most produced bomber of all time, behind the American four-engined Consolidated B-24 Liberator and the German multirole, twin-engined Junkers Ju 88 . The B-17 was also employed in transport, anti-submarine warfare, and search and rescue roles. In
6364-466: The B-17 were designed defensively, the large-tailed B-17E was the first model primarily focused on offensive warfare. The B-17E was an extensive revision of the Model 299 design: The fuselage was extended by 10 ft (3.0 m); a much larger rear fuselage, vertical tailfin, rudder, and horizontal stabilizer were added; a gunner's position was added in the new tail ; the nose (especially the bombardier's framed, 10-panel nose glazing) remained relatively
6512-539: The B-17B was altered to include larger rudders and flaps . The B-17C changed from three bulged, oval-shaped gun blisters to two flush, oval-shaped gun window openings, and on the lower fuselage, a single "bathtub" gun gondola housing, which resembled the similarly configured and located Bodenlafette /"Bola" ventral defensive emplacement on the German Heinkel He 111 P-series medium bomber. While models A through D of
6660-596: The Big Week raids. By September 1944, 27 of the 42 bomb groups of the 8th Air Force and six of the 21 groups of the 15th Air Force used B-17s. Losses to flak continued to take a high toll of heavy bombers through 1944, but the war in Europe was being won by the Allies. And by 27 April 1945, 2 days after the last heavy bombing mission in Europe, the rate of aircraft loss was so low that replacement aircraft were no longer arriving and
6808-465: The Boeing factory designation of Model 299, was designed by a team of engineers led by E. Gifford Emery and Edward Curtis Wells , and was built at Boeing's own expense. It combined features of the company's experimental XB-15 bomber and 247 transport. The B-17's armament consisted of five .30 caliber (7.62 mm) machine guns , with a payload up to 4,800 lb (2,200 kg) of bombs on two racks in
6956-401: The Chetniks had done everything possible for the airmen, including medical care. They were to have armed escorts to the evacuation point. In the meantime, to allow for a possible German attack on Pranjani, Mihailović was instructed to build a reserve airstrip in the Dragačevo district. Mihailović decided to send additional representatives to Italy to assist Topalović with his mission. They were;
7104-415: The Chetniks when the Partisans gained control. To do anything except rescue and protect American airmen would mean the loss of their last source of support and salvation. According to statistics compiled by the US Air Force Air Crew Rescue Unit, between 1 January and 15 October 1944, a total of 1,152 American airmen were airlifted from Yugoslavia, 795 with the assistance of the Yugoslav Partisans and 356 with
7252-426: The Chetniks. Two entire army corps, totaling 3,000 men, were provided him to insure ample defense against possible German interference. At Captain Brooks' suggestion, all men to be evacuated were split into six groups with an American officer in charge of each. The first of these groups was composed of all the sick and injured who were quartered near a hospital so that they could receive medical attention. The rest of
7400-428: The Communist leader. American attempts to maintain contact with Mihailović had been rebuffed by London. Nonetheless, General Nathan F. Twining , commander of the 15th Air Force, was determined to rescue his downed airmen. On 24 July 1944, thanks to the efforts of Twining and several OSS officers, General Ira C. Eaker directed the 15th Air Force to establish an Air Crew Rescue Unit (ACRU). This independent organization of
7548-416: The Croatian coastal island of Vis . Of the 2,364 flyers rescued from Yugoslavia, about 2,000 were extracted from Partisan-controlled territory and 350 from Chetnik-controlled territory. After the successful Allied invasion of Sicily , Italy capitulated in the autumn of 1943, and the Allies occupied the whole of southern Italy. In late 1943, the 15th Air Force of the United States Army Air Forces , under
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#17328524661677696-430: The Czech system with a one-to-one grapheme-phoneme correlation between the Cyrillic and Latin orthographies, resulting in a parallel system. Serbian is a standardized variety of Serbo-Croatian , a Slavic language ( Indo-European ), of the South Slavic subgroup. Other standardized forms of Serbo-Croatian are Bosnian , Croatian , and Montenegrin . "An examination of all the major 'levels' of language shows that BCS
7844-525: The Eighth Air Force placed highest priority on attacks on the German aircraft industry, especially fighter assembly plants, engine factories, and ball-bearing manufacturers. Attacks began in April 1943 on heavily fortified key industrial plants in Bremen and Recklinghausen . Since the airfield bombings were not appreciably reducing German fighter strength, additional B-17 groups were formed, and Eaker ordered major missions deeper into Germany against important industrial targets. The 8th Air Force then targeted
7992-481: The FEAF received word of the attack on Pearl Harbor, General Lewis H. Brereton sent his bombers and fighters on various patrol missions to prevent them from being caught on the ground. Brereton planned B-17 raids on Japanese airfields in Formosa , in accordance with Rainbow 5 war plan directives, but this was overruled by General Douglas MacArthur. A series of disputed discussions and decisions , followed by several confusing and false reports of air attacks, delayed
8140-524: The First Ravna Gora Corps was responsible for their security. Mihailović ordered Vučković to build an improvised airstrip from which the aviators could be evacuated. Vučković selected a field near Pranjani . Construction of the airstrip was managed by Captain Nikola Verkić. Vučković stated: More than a hundred diggers and as many ox-drawn carts were used to build. Because of the greater secrecy we worked mostly at night. The digging, leveling and cutting-down of trees created blisters on hands. In late March I sent
8288-414: The German-occupied zone of Serbia on 24 January 1944. That day two Liberators were shot down, one of them over Zlatibor , the other over Toplica . One bomber, damaged by German fighter planes, made an emergency landing between Pločnik and Beloljin. A crew of nine were rescued by the Chetnik Toplica Corps under the command of Major Milan Stojanović. The crew were placed in the home of local Chetnik leaders in
8436-468: The Germans and Bulgarians, but one airmen was captured. The crew is from the 861st Squadron, 460th bomber group. The British SOE military mission led by Brigadier Charles Armstrong was ready for evacuation by late May 1944. Following agreement with their Bari headquarters, three Douglas Dakota cargo aircraft ( C-47s ) landed at Pranjani on 29 May. In addition to the SOE mission, 40 rescued Allied airmen were also evacuated. Mihailović had decided to send
8584-720: The Latin alphabet whereas 36% favors the Cyrillic one. Latin script has become more and more popular in Serbia, as it is easier to input on phones and computers. The sort order of the ćirilica ( ћирилица ) alphabet: The sort order of the latinica ( латиница ) alphabet: Serbian is a highly inflected language , with grammatical morphology for nouns, pronouns and adjectives as well as verbs. Serbian nouns are classified into three declensional types, denoted largely by their nominative case endings as "-a" type, "-i" and "-e" type. Into each of these declensional types may fall nouns of any of three genders : masculine, feminine or neuter. Each noun may be inflected to represent
8732-410: The Latin script predominates, although both scripts are commonly seen. The Serbian government has encouraged increasing the use of Cyrillic in these contexts. Larger signs, especially those put up by the government, will often feature both alphabets; if the sign has English on it, then usually only Cyrillic is used for the Serbian text. A survey from 2014 showed that 47% of the Serbian population favors
8880-450: The Latin script tends to imply a cosmopolitan or neutral attitude, while Cyrillic appeals to a more traditional or vintage sensibility. In media, the public broadcaster, Radio Television of Serbia , predominantly uses the Cyrillic script whereas the privately run broadcasters, like RTV Pink , predominantly use the Latin script. Newspapers can be found in both scripts. In the public sphere, with logos, outdoor signage and retail packaging,
9028-554: The Middle East via Brazil and West Africa. Taking over the rescue unit, Kraigher formed two parties. One would work with Tito's Partisans, the other with Mihailović's Chetniks. Lieutenant George Musulin , an OSS officer who had led a liaison mission to Mihailović and one of the foremost advocates of maintaining contact with the Chetniks, was named commander of ACRU 1 (known as the Halyard Mission). Musulin, as Lieutenant Nelson Deranian, chief of OSS Special Operations Branch (SO) Bari suggested, possessed "the rugged character required to meet
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#17328524661679176-493: The Model 299. In one of their first missions, three B-17s, directed by lead navigator Lieutenant Curtis LeMay , were sent by General Andrews to "intercept" and photograph the Italian ocean liner Rex 610 miles (980 km) off the Atlantic coast. The mission was successful and widely publicized. The 13th Y1B-17 was delivered to the Material Division at Wright Field, Ohio, to be used for flight testing. A 14th Y1B-17 ( 37-369 ), originally constructed for ground testing of
9324-400: The RAF had lost eight B-17Cs in combat and had experienced numerous mechanical problems, and Bomber Command abandoned daylight bombing raids using the Fortress I because of the aircraft's poor performance. The experience showed both the RAF and USAAF that the B-17C was not ready for combat, and that improved defenses, larger bomb loads, and more accurate bombing methods were required. However,
9472-401: The Takovo district, was guided by Sergeant Bora Komračević. The second group, from the Dragačevo district, was guided by Mihailo Paunović, who did not speak English. Due to the concentration of rescued aviators near Pranjani, fighting occurred between the Chetniks and German and Bulgarian occupation forces. On 14 March 1944 the Germans moved into the village of Oplanić, near Gružа , looking for
9620-405: The U.S. Navy was giving the flight a 21-gun salute to celebrate the arrival of the bombers, after which he realized that Pearl Harbor was under attack. The Fortress came under fire from Japanese fighter aircraft, though the crew was unharmed with the exception of one member who suffered an abrasion on his hand. Japanese activity forced them to divert from Hickam Field to Bellows Field . On landing,
9768-538: The USAAF continued using the B-17 as a day bomber, despite misgivings by the RAF that attempts at daylight bombing would be ineffective. As use by Bomber Command had been curtailed, the RAF transferred its remaining Fortress Mk.I aircraft to Coastal Command for use as a long-range maritime patrol aircraft. These were augmented starting in July 1942 by 45 Fortress Mk.IIA (B-17E) followed by 19 Fortress Mk II (B-17F) and three Fortress Mk III (B-17G). A Fortress IIA from No. 206 Squadron RAF sank U-627 on 27 October 1942,
9916-442: The United States, when one was destroyed in a fatal mid-air collision with another warbird at an airshow. On 8 August 1934, the USAAC tendered a proposal for a multiengine bomber to replace the Martin B-10 . The Air Corps was looking for a bomber capable of reinforcing the air forces in Hawaii, Panama, and Alaska. Requirements were for it to carry a "useful bombload" at an altitude of 10,000 ft (3,000 m) for 10 hours with
10064-457: The Wright engines normally used on the B-17 become unavailable. The only prototype XB-38 to fly crashed on its ninth flight, and the concept was abandoned. The Allison V-1710 was reallocated to fighter aircraft. The YB-40 was a heavily armed modification of the standard B-17 used before the North American P-51 Mustang , an effective long-range fighter, became available to act as escort. Additional armament included an additional dorsal turret in
10212-488: The Y1B-17. Also, the Y1B-17A's new service ceiling was more than 2 miles (3,200 m) higher at 38,000 feet (12,000 m), compared to the Y1B-17's 27,800 feet (8,500 m). These turbo-superchargers were incorporated into the B-17B. Opposition to the Air Corps' ambitions for the acquisition of more B-17s faded, and in late 1937, 10 more aircraft designated B-17B were ordered to equip two bombardment groups, one on each U.S. coast. Improved with larger flaps and rudder and
10360-403: The aircraft as a strategic weapon. It was a relatively fast, high-flying, long-range bomber with heavy defensive armament at the expense of bomb load. It also developed a reputation for toughness based upon stories and photos of badly damaged B-17s safely returning to base. The B-17 saw early action in the Pacific War , where it conducted air raids against Japanese shipping and airfields. But it
10508-424: The aircraft overran the runway and ran into a ditch, where it was then strafed. Although initially deemed repairable, 40-2049 (11th BG / 38th RS) received more than 200 bullet holes and never flew again. Ten of the 12 Fortresses survived the attack. By 1941, the Far East Air Force (FEAF) based at Clark Field in the Philippines had 35 B-17s, with the War Department eventually planning to raise that to 165. When
10656-432: The airfield, improvised a night-lighting system with several kerosene lamps and then set up a watch to signal the planes when they came over. Only one plane arrived, however, and it did not land, dropping supplies and three men by parachute instead. These three men (OSS team, 1st Lieutenant Musulin, Master Sergeant Rajacich, and Navy Petty Officer Jibilian) had been sent in as an Allied mission from Italy and had brought along
10804-467: The airframe's strength, was upgraded by Boeing with exhaust-driven General Electric turbo-superchargers , and designated Y1B-17A. Designed by Sanford Moss , engine exhaust gases turned the turbine's steel-alloy blades, forcing high-pressure air into the Wright Cyclone GR-1820-39 engine supercharger. Scheduled to fly in 1937, it encountered problems with the turbochargers, and its first flight
10952-480: The alphabets are used interchangeably; except in the legal sphere, where Cyrillic is required, there is no context where one alphabet or another predominates. Although Serbian language authorities have recognized the official status of both scripts in contemporary Standard Serbian for more than half of a century now, due to historical reasons, the Cyrillic script was made the official script of Serbia's administration by
11100-417: The attack was successful at disrupting the entire works, severely curtailing work there for the remainder of the war, it was at an extreme cost. Of the 291 attacking Fortresses, 60 were shot down over Germany, five crashed on approach to Britain, and 12 more were scrapped due to damage – a loss of 77 B-17s. Additionally, 122 bombers were damaged and needed repairs before their next flights. Of 2,900 men in
11248-531: The authorization of the sortie. By the time the B-17s and escorting Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighters were about to get airborne, they were destroyed by Japanese bombers of the 11th Air Fleet . The FEAF lost half its aircraft during the first strike, and was all but destroyed over the next few days. Another early World War II Pacific engagement, on 10 December 1941, involved Colin Kelly , who reportedly crashed his B-17 into
11396-585: The ball-bearing factories in Schweinfurt , hoping to cripple the war effort there. The first raid on 17 August 1943 did not result in critical damage to the factories, with the 230 attacking B-17s being intercepted by an estimated 300 Luftwaffe fighters. The Germans shot down 36 aircraft with the loss of 200 men, and coupled with a raid earlier in the day against Regensburg , a total of 60 B-17s were lost that day. A second attempt on Schweinfurt on 14 October 1943 later came to be known as " Black Thursday ". While
11544-476: The beginning of the 13th century, the entire official correspondence of Dubrovnik with states in the hinterland was conducted in Serbian. In the mid-15th century, Serbia was conquered by the Ottoman Empire and for the next 400 years there was no opportunity for the creation of secular written literature. However, some of the greatest literary works in Serbian come from this time, in the form of oral literature,
11692-436: The bomb bay behind the cockpit. The aircraft was powered by four Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet radial engines , each producing 750 hp (600 kW) at 7,000 ft (2,100 m). The first flight of the Model 299 was on 28 July 1935 with Boeing chief test pilot Leslie Tower at the controls. The day before, Richard Williams, a reporter for The Seattle Times , coined the name "Flying Fortress" when – observing
11840-525: The bombing missions were directed against German aircraft production. German fighters needed to respond, and the North American P-51 Mustang and Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighters (equipped with improved drop tanks to extend their range) accompanying the American heavies all the way to and from the targets engaged them. The escort fighters reduced the loss rate to below 7%, with a total of 247 B-17s lost in 3,500 sorties while taking part in
11988-558: The bombs landing in the target area. Two additional groups arrived in Britain at the same time, bringing with them the first B-17Fs, which served as the primary AAF heavy bomber fighting the Germans until September 1943. As the raids of the American bombing campaign grew in numbers and frequency, German interception efforts grew in strength (such as during the attempted bombing of Kiel on 13 June 1943 ), such that unescorted bombing missions came to be discouraged. The two different strategies of
12136-544: The capture of Allied airmen. However, peasants accepted the airmen into their homes and fed them for months without Allied help. Hospitals for sick and wounded airmen were established in Pranjani village. Office of Strategic Services officers already had secured Marshal Tito's cooperation in retrieving downed airmen. In January 1944 Major Linn M. Farish and Lieutenant Eli Popovich had parachuted into Partisan HQ at Drvar to arrange assistance in rescuing American flyers. Following
12284-439: The choice of script as a matter of personal preference and to the free will in all aspects of life (publishing, media, trade and commerce, etc.), except in government paperwork production and in official written communication with state officials, which have to be in Cyrillic. Traffic signs and directional signs, and place names, on main or international roads are to be written with both Cyrillic and Latin script To most Serbians,
12432-465: The command of General Nathan Twining , was transferred from Tunisia to an airfield near Foggia . This airfield became the largest American air base in southern Italy, and was used for attacking targets in southern and eastern Europe . The 15th Army Air Force also used the nearby airfields of Bari , Brindisi , Lecce and Manduria . The 15th Air Force bombed targets in Germany , Hungary , Slovakia ,
12580-660: The crew of a downed Liberator. Captain Nikola Petković's 4th Battalion of the Gruža Brigade opened fire on German armored vehicles to lure them away from the portion of the village where the aviators were hiding. Three Chetniks were killed and two more captured during the firefight. After the war, the communists destroyed their gravestones. The 1st Dragačevo Brigade of the First Ravna Gora Corps engaged German forces attempting to capture an American aircrew bailing out over
12728-413: The crews, about 650 did not return, although some survived as prisoners of war . Only 33 bombers landed without damage. These losses were a result of concentrated attacks by over 300 German fighters. Such high losses of aircrews could not be sustained, and the USAAF, recognizing the vulnerability of heavy bombers to interceptors when operating alone, suspended daylight bomber raids deep into Germany until
12876-631: The development of an escort fighter that could protect the bombers all the way from the United Kingdom to Germany and back. At the same time, the German nightfighting ability noticeably improved to counter the nighttime strikes, challenging the conventional faith in the cover of darkness. The 8th Air Force alone lost 176 bombers in October 1943, and was to suffer similar casualties on 11 January 1944 on missions to Oschersleben , Halberstadt , and Brunswick . Lieutenant General James Doolittle , commander of
13024-524: The dialects of Šumadija-Vojvodina and Eastern Herzegovina ), which is also the basis of standard Croatian , Bosnian , and Montenegrin varieties and therefore the Declaration on the Common Language of Croats, Bosniaks, Serbs, and Montenegrins was issued in 2017. The other dialect spoken by Serbs is Torlakian in southeastern Serbia, which is transitional to Macedonian and Bulgarian . Serbian
13172-498: The earlier, 10-panel framed bombardier's nose glazing from the B subtype with an enlarged, nearly frameless Plexiglas bombardier's nose enclosure for improved forward vision. Two experimental versions of the B-17 were flown under different designations, the XB-38 'Flying Fortress' and the YB-40 'Flying Fortress .' The XB-38 was an engine testbed for Allison V-1710 liquid-cooled engines, should
13320-568: The early 19th century, Vuk Stefanović Karadžić promoted the spoken language of the people as a literary norm. The dialects of Serbo-Croatian , regarded Serbian (traditionally spoken in Serbia), include: Vuk Karadžić 's Srpski rječnik , first published in 1818, is the earliest dictionary of modern literary Serbian. The Rječnik hrvatskoga ili srpskoga jezika (I–XXIII), published by the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts from 1880 to 1976,
13468-493: The evaluation, thus disqualifying it from the competition. While the Air Corps was still enthusiastic about the aircraft's potential, Army officials were daunted by its cost; Douglas quoted a unit price of $ 58,200 (equivalent to $ 1,018,000 in 2023 ) based on a production order of 220 aircraft, compared with $ 99,620 (equivalent to $ 1,743,000 in 2023 ) from Boeing. MacArthur's successor, Army Chief of Staff Malin Craig , canceled
13616-529: The final moments before release. The USAAF began building up its air forces in Europe using B-17Es soon after entering the war. The first Eighth Air Force units arrived in High Wycombe, England , on 12 May 1942, to form the 97th Bomb Group. On 17 August 1942, 12 B-17Es of the 97th, with the lead aircraft piloted by Major Paul Tibbets and carrying Brigadier General Ira Eaker as an observer, were close escorted by four squadrons of RAF Spitfire IXs (and
13764-431: The first field had progressed to the point where it was usable, the 15th Air Force was notified. A message came back from headquarters that eight aircraft would arrive that evening, each with a capacity of 12 men. Captain Brooks then sent runners to alert the first 96 men scheduled to go. The field was cleared and signal fires built. One officer was put in charge of the men and ordered to have each group of twelve men leave
13912-725: The first of 11 U-boat kills credited to RAF Fortress bombers during the war. As sufficient Consolidated Liberators finally became available, Coastal Command withdrew the Fortress from the Azores, transferring the type to the meteorological reconnaissance role. Three squadrons undertook Met profiles from airfields in Iceland, Scotland, and England, gathering data for vital weather forecasting purposes. The RAF's No. 223 Squadron , as part of 100 Group , operated several Fortresses equipped with an electronic warfare system known as " Airborne Cigar " (ABC). This
14060-531: The first time since 1941, there were no Allied liaison officers with the Chetniks. Mihailovich's headquarters had attempted to establish direct radio contact with the Allied Mediterranean Command, but failed. On 15 July 1944, while returning in a severely damaged airplane (B-17G, 840th BS, 483rd BG, 15th AF, Sterparone, Italy) on a mission to an important enemy oil refinery in Ploiești, Captain Leo C. Brooks
14208-476: The full range of Chetnik-German relations, from open hostility to wary tolerance and at times accommodation. They had seen Chetnik soldiers give their lives to save them from capture and had been protected and well-treated by Mihailović's forces and by the Serbian peasantry. Their very presence at Pranjani under Chetnik was itself a clear evidence that Mihailović remained a well-disposed toward the United States and
14356-468: The ground soon after takeoff, bursting into flames. Though initially surviving the impact, Hill died within a few hours, and Tower on 19 November. Post-accident interviews with Tower and Putt determined the control surface gust lock had not been released. Doyle notes, "The loss of Hill and Tower, and the Model 299, was directly responsible for the creation of the modern written checklist used by pilots to this day." The crashed Model 299 could not finish
14504-623: The groups were dispersed in the neighboring mountains, the most distant being two hours walking distance away. Keeping with him a staff of six officers to handle staff work, Captain Brooks then directed that, to insure the most orderly and expeditious evacuation possible, a list be drafted by name, rank, and serial number of all Americans in the area together with the date of their being shot down. Meanwhile, two men who had been sent to contact General Mihailovic's headquarters, brought back word that on one of three specified nights friendly planes would land to evacuate those present. Captain Brooks inspected
14652-508: The gun stations were finalized, and other adjustments were completed. The B-17G was the final version of the Flying Fortress, incorporating all changes made to its predecessor, the B-17F, and in total, 8,680 were built, the last (by Lockheed) on 28 July 1945. Many B-17Gs were converted for other missions such as cargo hauling, engine testing, and reconnaissance . Initially designated SB-17G,
14800-495: The hardships involved". Master Sergeant Michael Rajacich, borrowed from OSS Secret Intelligence Branch (S1) for this particular assignment, and Navy Specialist 1st Class Arthur Jibilian, the mission's OSS radio operator, rounded out Musulin's team. On the night of 2–3 August 1944, after several abortive attempts, the Halyard Mission team parachuted into Mihailović's headquarters at Pranjani. Airman Richard Felman (415th Bombardment Squadron, 98th Bombardment Group, 15th Air Force), who
14948-410: The head of GHQ Air Force. MacArthur and Andrews both believed that the capabilities of large four-engined aircraft exceeded those of shorter-ranged, twin-engine aircraft, and that the B-17 was better suited to new, emerging USAAC doctrine. Their opinions were shared by the air corps procurement officers, and even before the competition had finished, they suggested buying 65 B-17s. On 30 October 1935,
15096-528: The help of the Serbian Chetniks. Serbian-American Lieutenant Eli Popovich, part of the Halyard Mission attached to Partisan HQ, kept in radio contact with Arthur Jibilian to co-ordinate the rescue of all American and foreign airmen in Yugoslavia from Mihailović's HQ (where radio operator Jibilian was attached). In early-March 1944, 25 rescued pilots were brought to Pranjani. Captain Zvonimir Vučković of
15244-508: The information on to her husband, George Vujnovich , who put together a rescue plan. Lieutenant George Vujnovich, worked for the OSS in Brindisi , in southern Italy. He received a letter from his wife which mentioned the American airmen's plight: "there are hundreds... can you do something for them? It would be great if [they] are evacuated". It was the turning point which led to the planning and execution of Operation Halyard. In late-May 1944, for
15392-418: The large number of machine guns sticking out from the new aircraft – he described it as a "15-ton flying fortress" in a picture caption. The most distinctive mount was in the nose, which allowed the single machine gun to be fired toward nearly all frontal angles. Boeing was quick to see the value of the name and had it trademarked for use. Boeing also claimed in some of the early press releases that Model 299
15540-500: The lighter bombers once they had dropped their bombs, so the project was abandoned and finally phased out in July 1943. The final production blocks of the B-17F from Douglas' plants did, however, adopt the YB-40's "chin turret", giving them a much-improved forward defense capability. By the time the definitive B-17G appeared, the number of guns had been increased from seven to 13, the designs of
15688-588: The matrix of Serbian Church Slavonic . By the beginning of the 14th century the Serbo-Croatian language, which was so rigorously proscribed by earlier local laws, becomes the dominant language of the Republic of Ragusa . However, despite her wealthy citizens speaking the Serbo-Croatian dialect of Dubrovnik in their family circles, they sent their children to Florentine schools to become perfectly fluent in Italian. Since
15836-407: The most notable form being epic poetry . The epic poems were mainly written down in the 19th century, and preserved in oral tradition up to the 1950s, a few centuries or even a millennium longer than by most other "epic folks". Goethe and Jacob Grimm learned Serbian in order to read Serbian epic poetry in the original. By the end of the 18th century, the written literature had become estranged from
15984-502: The most significant weapons of World War II would be ready, but only by a hair. The aircraft went through several alterations in each of its design stages and variants. Of the 13 YB-17s ordered for service testing, 12 were used by the 2nd Bomb Group at Langley Field, Virginia, to develop heavy bombing techniques, and the 13th was used for flight testing at the Material Division at Wright Field, Ohio. Experiments on this aircraft led to
16132-415: The noun they modify, but must agree in number, gender and case with the modified noun. Serbian verbs are conjugated in four past forms— perfect , aorist , imperfect , and pluperfect —of which the last two have a very limited use (imperfect is still used in some dialects, but the majority of native Serbian speakers consider it archaic), one future tense (also known as the first future tense, as opposed to
16280-517: The noun's grammatical case , of which Serbian has seven: Nouns are further inflected to represent the noun's number , singular or plural. Pronouns, when used, are inflected along the same case and number morphology as nouns. Serbian is a pro-drop language , meaning that pronouns may be omitted from a sentence when their meaning is easily inferred from the text. In cases where pronouns may be dropped, they may also be used to add emphasis. For example: Adjectives in Serbian may be placed before or after
16428-580: The number of bombers per bomb group was reduced. The Combined Bomber Offensive was effectively complete. On 7 December 1941, a group of 12 B-17s of the 38th (four B-17C) and 88th (eight B-17E) Reconnaissance Squadrons, en route to reinforce the Philippines, was flown into Pearl Harbor from Hamilton Field, California , arriving while the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor was going on. Leonard "Smitty" Smith Humiston, co-pilot on First Lieutenant Robert H. Richards' B-17C, AAF S/N 40-2049 , reported that he thought
16576-626: The only completed etymological dictionary of Serbian is the " Skok ", written by the Croatian linguist Petar Skok : Etimologijski rječnik hrvatskoga ili srpskoga jezika ("Etymological Dictionary of Croatian or Serbian"). I-IV. Zagreb 1971–1974. There is also a new monumental Etimološki rečnik srpskog jezika (Etymological Dictionary of Serbian). So far, two volumes have been published: I (with words on A-), and II (Ba-Bd). There are specialized etymological dictionaries for German, Italian, Croatian, Turkish, Greek, Hungarian, Russian, English and other loanwords (cf. chapter word origin ). Article 1 of
16724-516: The order for 65 YB-17s and ordered 133 of the twin-engined Douglas B-18 Bolo, instead. Secretary of War Harry Hines Woodring in October 1938 decided that no four-engine bombers, including B-17s, would be purchased by the War Department in 1939. The loss was not total... But Boeing's hopes for a substantial bomber contract were dashed. Despite the crash, the USAAC had been impressed by the prototype's performance, and on 17 January 1936, through
16872-574: The other evacuees had been loaded did Brooks get aboard the last airplane. The pilot counted 21 men aboard, one more than the maximum. Assuming that one would have to be left on the ground, Brooks immediately debarked, but a recount by the pilot revealed that there were only 20 passengers, and Brooks reboarded. A total of 240 Americans, seven British, 12 Russians, five French, and five Italian officers and men were evacuated in this operation. At midnight on 2 August 1944, an American plane flew over Pranjani, near Mihailovic's headquarters in central Serbia, where
17020-443: The pilot of the first plane to land that the operation was to continue throughout the following morning with friendly fighter cover. He immediately sent runners to all the different groups. By 07:00 on 10 August 1944 all the remaining evacuees had been assembled in the woods adjacent to the field. To assist the aircraft, Brooks had had the field marked with strips of parachutes. Twenty men were loaded into each aircraft. Only after all
17168-657: The president of the Independent Democratic Party Adam Pribićević , Supreme Court judge Dr. Vladimir Belajčić , Captain Zvonimir Vučković, and Ivan Kovač, a Slovene who taught King Peter II before the war. Meanwhile, on Sunday, 6 August 1944, The New York Times published an interview with Mihailović by journalist Cyrus Leo Sulzberger . Near Pranjani, Chetnik sentries detained a civilian identified as Ivan Popov; one sentinel had his suspicions aroused because he thought he had seen Popov leave
17316-464: The progress being made. He also distributed funds to enable the airmen to purchase needed supplies. At the same time, Mihailović assigned the First Ravna Gora Corps to provide security for the operation. According to Professor Kirk Ford, the airmen assembled at Pranjani awaiting evacuation represented a potential source of intelligence, particularly concerning Serbia: They had witnessed the civil war between Chetnik and Partisan forces and had experienced
17464-456: The project, and procured for him through the Chetnik Army commander a large number of Yugoslav laborers. The remaining six officers, including Brooks himself, he divided into two-man teams to investigate possible sites for another field. In this manner two better locations were discovered, and work was immediately begun on those fields as well. In the meantime, radio contact with 15th Air Force
17612-547: The prototype crashed), the term "XB-17" was retroactively applied to the NX13372's airframe and has entered the lexicon to describe the first Flying Fortress. Between 1 March and 4 August 1937, 12 of the 13 Y1B-17s were delivered to the 2nd Bombardment Group at Langley Field in Virginia for operational development and flight tests. One suggestion adopted was the use of a preflight checklist to avoid accidents such as that which befell
17760-419: The radio room, a remotely operated and fired Bendix-built "chin turret" directly below the bombardier's accommodation, and twin 50 caliber (12.7 mm) guns in each of the waist positions. The ammunition load was over 11,000 rounds. All of these modifications made the YB-40 well over 10,000 lb (4,500 kg) heavier than a fully loaded B-17F. The YB-40s with their greater weight, had trouble keeping up with
17908-585: The report to the US Army so that the families of airmen could be informed, especially their mothers, who had in some cases been notified that their offspring were "missing in action". The reports almost always contained the names and addresses of the airmen. Mirjana Vujnovich was working at the Yugoslav Embassy in Washington when she learned of reports that Serbian guerrillas were sheltering Allied airmen. She passed
18056-410: The same as the earlier B through D versions had; a Sperry electrically powered manned dorsal gun turret just behind the cockpit was added; a similarly powered (also built by Sperry) manned ventral ball turret just aft of the bomb bay – replaced the relatively hard-to-use, Sperry model 645705-D remotely operated ventral turret on the earliest examples of the E variant. These modifications resulted in
18204-413: The second conditional (without use in the spoken language—it should be used for impossible conditional clauses). Serbian has active and passive voice . As for the non-finite verb forms, Serbian has one infinitive , two adjectival participles (the active and the passive), and two adverbial participles (the present and the past). Most Serbian words are of native Slavic lexical stock, tracing back to
18352-433: The second future tense or the future exact, which is considered a tense of the conditional mood by some contemporary linguists), and one present tense . These are the tenses of the indicative mood. Apart from the indicative mood, there is also the imperative mood . The conditional mood has two more tenses: the first conditional (commonly used in conditional clauses, both for possible and impossible conditional clauses) and
18500-466: The spoken language. In the second half of the 18th century, the new language appeared, called Slavonic-Serbian . This artificial idiom superseded the works of poets and historians like Gavrilo Stefanović Venclović , who wrote in essentially modern Serbian in the 1720s. These vernacular compositions have remained cloistered from the general public and received due attention only with the advent of modern literary historians and writers like Milorad Pavić . In
18648-636: The spring of 1944, the 15th Air Force intensified the bombing of targets in Bulgaria and Romania, resulting in American aviators being forced to bail out of damaged aircraft over Yugoslavia in increasing numbers. Some crews fell into the hands of Romanian, Bulgarian, Croatian or German troops and were sent to prisoner of war camps . By August 1944, 350 bombers had been lost. Many of the crews survived: some came down in territory held by Marshal Tito's Partisans, while others found refuge in Serbia with Draža Mihailović `s Chetniks. The first American airmen bailed out over
18796-522: The start of 2024, six aircraft remain in flying condition. About 50 survive in storage or are on static display, the oldest of which is The Swoose , a B-17D which was flown in combat in the Pacific on the first day of the United States' involvement in World War II. There are also several reasonably complete wrecks, such as underwater, that have been found. B-17 survivors gained national attention in 2022 in
18944-665: The targets in Romania was repeatedly used every day from the spring of 1944 (over the Adriatic Sea , Montenegro , Serbia and Bulgaria to Romania). Two-thirds of these flights were carried out against objectives in Bulgaria, Romania and the German-occupied zone of Serbia. The Germans had at their disposal a limited number of fighter aircraft whose most frequent targets were Allied planes that had already been damaged by Axis anti-aircraft defenses in Bulgaria and Romania, planes that because of such damage had to fly slowly at low altitude. In
19092-402: The then-secret Norden bombsight , known as the "Blue Ox", which was an optical electromechanical gyrostabilized analog computer . The device was able to determine, from variables put in by the bombardier, the point at which the bombs should be released to hit the target. The bombardier essentially took over flight control of the aircraft during the bomb run, maintaining a level altitude during
19240-458: The use of a quartet of General Electric turbo-superchargers, which later became standard on the B-17 line. A 14th aircraft, the YB-17A, originally destined for ground testing only and upgraded with the turbochargers, was redesignated B-17A after testing had finished. As the production line developed, Boeing engineers continued to improve upon the basic design. To enhance performance at slower speeds,
19388-529: The village of Velika Draguša. Another bomber was shot down that same day, the crew bailing out over Mount Zlatibor . They were found by members of the Zlatibor Corps. A radiogram message about the rescue of one of the crews was sent by Stojanović to Mihailović on 25 January. Major Stojanović wrote that the previous day about 100 bombers flew from the direction of Niš towards Kosovska Mitrovica , and that they were followed by nine German fighter aircraft. After
19536-622: The villages surrounding this field, there were already some 150 American airmen who were awaiting an expected evacuation, and more were coming in every day. As the ranking American officer, he took command of the Americans present. In conjunction with the Chetnik area commander, he determined the best policy to follow in quartering and protecting the men and in effecting a high degree of camouflage discipline. Due to his careful planning, tact, and diplomacy, Captain Brooks obtained maximum aid and assistance from
19684-561: The woods only when its plane was ready. During this time no one else was to be on the field. Another officer was detailed to meet the planes as they landed and park them for loading. A third officer was detailed to guide them out for takeoff. Only four C-47A aircraft, from the 60th TCG, 12th Air Force, in Brindisi, Italy, came in that night, the first carrying a doctor, several assistants, and medical supplies. These airplanes landed, unloaded, loaded with evacuees, and left. Captain Brooks learned from
19832-787: Was a failure. The British did not allow him to leave southern Italy. Reports about the rescued airmen were sent to the Democratic Yugoslavia news agency, which belonged to the High Command of the Yugoslav Army in the fatherland of Mihailović. This agency had an office and radio station in New York City. A report was received by the Yugoslav Embassy in Washington, DC . Staff headed by the Ambassador Konstantin Fotić , forwarded
19980-410: Was at Pranjani, recalls the scene when the mission arrived at the airfield: The one who was in the lead was the of [ sic ] a mob of Chetniks—they were kissing him and cheering him with tears in their eyes. He was in an American uniform and was one of the biggest chaps I'd ever seen. He walked over to us and put out his hands. 'I'm George Musulin', he said. Musulin arranged a meeting with
20128-411: Was declared by 34.52% of the population. Standard Serbian language uses both Cyrillic ( ћирилица , ćirilica ) and Latin script ( latinica , латиница ). Serbian is a rare example of synchronic digraphia , a situation where all literate members of a society have two interchangeable writing systems available to them. Media and publishers typically select one alphabet or the other. In general,
20276-518: Was delayed until 29 April 1938. The aircraft was delivered to the Army on 31 January 1939. Once service testing was complete, the Y1B-17s and Y1B-17A were redesignated B-17 and B-17A, respectively, to signify the change to operational status. The Y1B-17A had a maximum speed of 311 mph (270 kn; 501 km/h), at its best operational altitude, compared to 239 mph (208 kn; 385 km/h) for
20424-792: Was effectively scrapped in early 1945. The B-17 began operations in World War II with the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1941, and in the Southwest Pacific with the U.S. Army. During World War II, the B-17 equipped 32 overseas combat groups, inventory peaking in August 1944 at 4,574 USAAF aircraft worldwide. The British heavy bombers, the Avro Lancaster and Handley Page Halifax , dropped 608,612 long tons (681,645 short tons; 618,378 t) and 224,207 long tons (251,112 short tons; 227,805 t) respectively. The RAF entered World War II without
20572-417: Was evacuated along with American airmen to Italy. The young aviators had no idea that one of the passengers was a former Gestapo officer. The largest evacuation from Pranjani began at 03:00 on 10 August. Four C-47s flew in; they were followed by a further six. Other sources state there were 12 or 14 US transports. These aircraft may have been protected by 50 ( P-51 Mustang and P-38 Lightning ) fighters of
20720-430: Was forced to bail out over Yugoslavia ( Ljig , Serbia). Immediately on landing, he was approached by members of the Chetnik army who offered him assistance. At Captain Brooks' request to see their commanding officer (Kapetan Marko Muzikravić), he was led through the mountains for several days. On 26 July 1944, he reached a British landing strip in Pranjani, Serbia, that had been prepared for the evacuation of escapees. In
20868-404: Was no collaborator in the true sense of the word. {{Blockquote|To some, it may be difficult to understand how the Chetniks could rescue American Airmen from the Germans, as they did in at least one instance, and, at the same time, collaborate with these very same forces. The answer rests in the Chetniks' perception of who was really the enemy. The Chetniks considered the Partisan communist movement
21016-644: Was one of the priority targets. All flights targeting the oilfields and refineries in Romania, near the town of Ploiești north of Bucharest , passed over the Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia. From October 1943 to October 1944, the 15th Air Force conducted about 20,000 sorties with fighters and bombers. During this time, it lost almost fifty percent of its aircraft but only about ten percent of its personnel. It had at its disposal 500 heavy bombers ( B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators ) and about 100 fighter escorts. The flight path from southern Italy to
21164-401: Was operated by German-speaking radio operators to identify and jam German ground controllers' broadcasts to their nightfighters . They could also pose as ground controllers themselves to steer nightfighters away from the bomber streams . The air corps – renamed United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) on 20 June 1941 – used the B-17 and other bombers to bomb from high altitudes with the aid of
21312-462: Was primarily employed by the USAAF in the daylight component of the Allied strategic bombing campaign over Europe, complementing RAF Bomber Command 's night bombers in attacking German industrial, military and civilian targets. Of the roughly 1.5 million tons of bombs dropped on Nazi Germany and its occupied territories by Allied aircraft, over 640,000 tons (42.6%) were dropped from B-17s. At
21460-433: Was reestablished. A request was made for urgently needed supplies and a message sent regarding the work that was being done on the first field. Two transports came shortly thereafter and dropped a considerable quantity of needed supplies. Acting under instructions previously issued by Captain Brooks, the group quartered nearest the dropping site successfully brought in all these supplies. Several days later when construction on
21608-598: Was the first combat aircraft that could continue its mission if one of its four engines failed. On 20 August 1935 , the prototype flew from Seattle to Wright Field in nine hours and three minutes with an average ground speed of 252 mph (219 kn; 406 km/h), much faster than the competition. At the fly-off, the four-engined Boeing's performance was superior to those of the twin-engine DB-1 and Model 146. In March 1935 Army Chief of Staff General Douglas MacArthur created GHQ Air Force and promoted lieutenant colonel Frank Maxwell Andrews to brigadier general to become
21756-521: Was the official language of Montenegro until October 2007, when the new Constitution of Montenegro replaced the Constitution of 1992. Amid opposition from pro-Serbian parties, Montenegrin was made the sole official language of the country, and Serbian was given the status of a language in official use along with Bosnian , Albanian , and Croatian . In the 2023 Montenegrin census, 43.18% declared Serbian to be their native language, while Montenegrin
21904-529: Was unsuccessful. On 24 July three B-17s of 90 Squadron took part in a raid on the German capital ship Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen anchored in Brest from 30,000 ft (9,100 m), to draw German fighters away from 18 Handley Page Hampdens attacking at lower altitudes, and in time for 79 Vickers Wellingtons to attack later with the German fighters refueling. The operation did not work as expected, with 90 Squadron's Fortresses being unopposed. By September,
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