Summary Mission 760: The Largest Air Strike of the War Part of 8th Air Force Week 2 on WW2TV With Joost de Raaf On December 24, 1944 the 8th Air Force launched Mission 760, the largest aerial mission of the war, which involved more than 2000 heavy bombers. The mission was to bomb German airfields and supply lines, to stop the German Ardennes offensive Battle of the Bulge. Joost de Raaf serves in the Royal Netherlands Air Force as an instructor for F-16 maintenance. Years ago, Joost met Robert Morgan, the pilot of Memphis Belle, at an air-show and began to collect books that were written about specific Bomb Groups in the Eighth Air Force. It was a single page in one of these books that proved to be a life changer and initiated an interest that soon would evolve in a research project - the fruits of which this WW2TV show will feature. That page was a copy of a Field Order which showed the precise routing and timing of several formations whilst overhead the United Kingdom before crossing the coast towards mainland Europe. The book was "Fortresses over Nuthampstead, the 398th Bombardment Group (H) 1943-1945", written by Cliff T. Bishop. Joost had the fortune of meeting Cliff Bishop several times and he, amongst others, thought that the story of the 24th December 1944 mission had to be told. This research has led Joost to understand the complexity of a mission, both in preparation and execution.

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