The Mighty Eighth Podcast Johann Tasker

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.
We find out why the 95th Bomb Group pushed ahead with the Berlin raid – despite a recall order which saw other planes turn back.
And we discuss the strategy behind the mission – and how it helped the Allies achieve air supremacy, paving the way for D-Day three months later.
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To contact Johann and Mike, email johann@ruralcity.co.uk
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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 Fortress and a Liberator.
We discuss the merits – and sometimes fatal flaws – of both iconic planes with museum curator Dr Hattie Hearn.
We debate their armaments, their bomb loads – and the ability of each aircraft to successfully complete a mission and return home.
And we find out what it was like for the crew during combat – including inside the ball turret.
The museum stands as a memorial to the 30,000 American servicemen and women who died while flying from Britain between 1942 and 1945.
Their names appear on a special digital Roll of Honour, which draws names and photographs from the museum archive into the exhibition space. 
Please do subscribe to the Mighty Eighth Podcast wherever you listen to your podcasts – and if you like what you hear, please do leave us a review.
To contact Johann and Mike, please email johann@ruralcity.co.uk.
You can also contact us via our website at www.mighty8thpodcast.com and on X at www.twitter.com/mighty8thpod.
With very special thanks to the American Air Museum for welcoming us and allowing us to record this episode.


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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, we visit Thorpe Abbotts – the airfield in eastern England which was home to the 100th during World War Two.
We climb to the top of the control tower and look out across what was a huge military airbase.
We talk about the missions of 1943 which gave birth to the legend of the Bloody Hundredth – and look at the evidence to support the claims.
We learn about the real-life characters Robert 'Rosie' Rosenthal, John 'Bucky' Egan and Gale 'Buck' Cleven – all of whom feature in Masters of the Air.
Do subscribe to the Mighty Eighth Podcast on whichever podcast platform you listen to – and if you like what you hear, please do leave us a review.
To contact Johann and Mike, email johann@ruralcity.co.uk.
With special thanks to the 100th Bomb Group Memorial Museum for welcoming us and allowing us to record this episode.

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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 stream more than 300 miles long described as the greatest day in the history of aerial warfare.
In this episode, we visit Lavenham airfield (USAAF Station 137), home to the 487th Bomb Group to examine the strategy behind the mission.
We visit the Airmen's Bar at the Swan Hotel in Lavenham, and pay tribute to Brigadier General Frederick W. Castle, who led the mission.
And we speak to an 85-year-old village resident who as a schoolboy attended a Christmas party hosted by the Mighty Eighth in 1944.
Thank you for listening to the Mighty Eighth Podcast.
Mighty Eighth Podcast episodes are co-hosted, written and produced by Johann Tasker and military historian Mike Peters.
To contact Johann and Mike, email johann@ruralcity.co.uk or visit our website at www.mighty8thpodcast.com.
You can also follow us on Twitter at Mighty8thPod and Facebook.

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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, near Huntingdon, in the East of England.
All 13 crew were killed.
So too were four people on the ground and their horse.
Relatives spent decades trying to find out why the plane crashed – a mystery which remained unsolved for years.
We speak to family of the crew – and visit a newly unveiled memorial to the plane and those killed.
This episode is co-hosted by Johann Tasker with military historian Mike Peters and podcast guest Steve Andrews.
To contact Johann and Mike, email johann@ruralcity.co.uk.
Featuring interviews with John Price Jr. (grandnephew of of pilot Arthur Reynolds); and Vickie Tregner (niece of radar mechanic Herman Kolousek).
With very special thanks to Clive D. Stevens.
Thanks also to Tarkey Barker; Maggie Aggiss; Ian McLachlan; 100th Bomb Group Museum, Thorpe Abbotts, Norfolk; the Oaksmere Hotel, Rectory Road, Eye, Suffolk.

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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 Regensburg.
In this episode, we discuss the reasons behind the mission, the strategy and the experiences of those who took part – both in the air and on the ground.
We discuss what went right – and what went wrong – through the eyes of the 381st Bomb Group based at Ridgewell, Essex, about 50 miles north-east of London.
In particular, we follow the experiences of two men: Group lead navigator Leonard Spivey and Ridgewell chaplain James Good Brown.
To contact podcast hosts Johann and Mike, please email johann@ruralcity.co.uk.
The book mentioned in this episode – Bomb Group: The Eighth Air Force's 381st and the Allied Air Offensive over Europe – by Paul Bingley and Mike Peters is available to order from Amazon and all good bookshops.
This episode was recorded on location courtesy of Ridgewell Airfield Commemorative Museum.
The introduction for this episode includes an excerpt from President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Fireside Chat Following the Declaration of War on Japan (December 9, 1941).

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