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or you can get all of History Daily plus other fantastic history podcasts at into History.com. It's February 13th, 1945 in the skies over Southeast Asia.

American pilot Carl Fritch peers out of the cockpit of his B-24 bomber.

Nicknamed the crusader, the plane hums and shakes as its four powerful propeller engines drive it through the clouds.

Carl knows this route well. propeller engines drive it through the clouds.

Carl knows this route well.

He and his squadron have tried bombing today's target before without success.

It's a bridge nicknamed Old 177 and is part of a jungle railway constructed by the Japanese

to transport supplies between Thailand and Burma. In the past Carl and the rest of

his squadron have often been forced to retreat by anti-aircraft fire before they even get near the bridge.

But Carl has a good feeling about today's run. They're getting close.

Pushing on the stick, Carl puts the bomber into a dive below him the bridge grows larger the ground approaches fast and

Carl's heart races as anti-aircraft fire erupts around it.

Carl silently craze his fuel tank doesn't get hit,

that his bombardier, stationed directly below the cockpit,

gets his calculations right,

and releases the payload correctly.

And out of the corner of his eye,

Carl can see the other planes in his squadron

braving the same barrage of anti-aircraft fire.

...