LIGHTERS PULL ALONGSIDE THE QUEEN ELIZABETH to unload U. S. troops in Scotland (top). Representatives of the American Red Cross serving refreshments to Waacs who have just arrived in Scotland (bottom). On one trip the Queen Elizabeth carried a record load of 15,028 troops. Between December 1941 and June 1944 the Queen Mary and the Queen Elizabeth transported a large portion of the total number of troops to the United Kingdom, running alone through seas in which their great speed was their chief protection against enemy submarines.
GERMANY
BOMBS TUMBLE FROM THE BAYS OF AN OVERTURNED B-24 BOMBER. The plane was caught in a heavy flak belt while on a mission over Germany. During 1943 the enemy became much more aggressive as he shifted his fighters from the Russian front and the Mediterranean theater to western Europe. The German day fighters continually harassed U. S. heavy bombers, sometimes following them far out to sea on their withdrawal.
NORTH SEA
A ROYAL AIR FORCE SEA RESCUE LAUNCH picking up the crew of a B-17 which crashed into the North Sea while returning to its base in England after a bombing raid over Germany. The crew members are in rubber boats and are flying a kite to which is attached the aerial of a short wave radio used to signal and give their position to the rescue craft. Many bombers were shot down over enemy territory and their crews captured, killed, or wounded; others were badly damaged and crashed into the North Sea on their return; while still others managed to return to their bases even though damaged. Many crews of the planes forced down at sea were rescued in the manner shown here.
ENGLAND