"Big Week" 1944

A rigorous new analysis of America"s legendary "Big Week" air campaign which enabled the Allies to gain air superiority before D-Day.



The USAAF"s mighty World War II bomber forces were designed for unescorted, precision daylight bombing, but no-one foresaw the devastation that German radar-directed interceptors would inflict on them. Following the failures of 1943"s Schweinfurt-Regensburg raids, and with D-Day looming, the Allies urgently needed to crush the Luftwaffe"s ability to oppose the landings.



In February 1944, the Allies conceived and fought history"s first-ever successful offensive counter­air (OCA) campaign, Operation Argument or \"Big Week.\" Attacking German aircraft factories with hundreds of heavy bombers, escorted by the new long-range P-51 Mustang, it aimed both to slash aircraft production and force the Luftwaffe into combat, allowing the new Mustangs to take their toll on the German interceptors. This expertly written, illustration-packed account explains how the Allies finally began to win air superiority over Europe, and how Operation Argument marked the beginning of the Luftwaffe"s fall.