"briefed them on the intended mission. Given a choice to stay or leave, every airman volunteered for what became known as Operation Carpetbagger. Their dangerous plan called for a new kind of flying: taking their B-24 Liberator bombers in the middle of the night across the English Channel and down to extremely low altitudes in Nazi-occupied France to find drop zones in dark fields."
"On the ground, resistance members waited to receive steel containers filled with everything from rifles and hand grenades to medicine and bicycle tires. Some nights, the flyers also dropped Allied secret agents by parachute to assist the French partisans. Though their story remained classified for more than fifty years, the Carpetbaggers ultimately received a Presidential Unit Citation from the US military, which declared: "it is safe to say that no group of this size has made a greater contribution to the war effort.""
"Along with other members of the wartime OSS, they were also awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. Based on exclusive research and interviews, the definitive story of these heroic flyers-and of the brave secret agents and resistance leaders they aided-can now be told. Written in Bruce Henderson's "spellbinding" (USA TODAY) prose, Midnight Flyboys is an astonishing tale of patriotism, courage, and sacrifice."
In 1943 the OSS recruited top American bomber pilots to a secret airfield near London and briefed them for Operation Carpetbagger. Volunteer crews flew B-24 Liberators at night at extremely low altitude across the English Channel into Nazi-occupied France to locate and serve dark-field drop zones. Crews delivered steel containers filled with rifles, hand grenades, medicine, bicycle tires, and other supplies, and dropped Allied secret agents by parachute to assist French partisans. Operations were highly dangerous and remained classified for more than fifty years. Carpetbagger units received a Presidential Unit Citation and members of the wartime OSS were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.
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