Profile of a Combat Mission (continued)

7.-- Before take-off the navigator re-briefs the pilot, co-pilot and bombardier, while the gunners install their weapons and the ground crewmen make a final check of the ship. No detail is overlooked.

8.-- Then comes take-off. The heavily-laden bombers assume their place in the carefully stacked formation, and head for the enemy coast.

9.-- Perhaps the most tense moments of the normal mission come during the bomb run. This photo is of the first stick of bombs falling away from the lead Fortress -- precision bombing at its best.