 At an 8th Air Force fighter base on the invasion coast of England, the commander of a combat wing pins DFCs on Thunderbolt pilots. They won those medals in the Battle of Germany, escorting our bombers to their targets. Ramrod is the fighter's name for an escort job, and Ramrod begins at Bomber Command. The route and the plan for the job comes over the scrambler phone into the combat ops room at Fighter Command. The time is late afternoon, October 1st, 1943, and the mission is Ramrod to Emden tomorrow. Let's draw it on the maps, have a look at the job. It's to be a big deal, almost 400 bombers. And here's their route into the target and out again, 300 miles and more each way. And where do they want fighter cover? Where are the rendezvous points? That's the key to a Ramrod job. And so the details are sorted out and boiled down into the field order by A3. The deal is all wrapped up, but still General Kepner, fighter commander, must check before he gives the final OK that releases the whole complex machinery of another attack in the Battle of Germany. From Fighter Command through Fighter Wings, the field order goes by a teleprinter. And finally, at about 2100 hours, the order clatters over the printer at the base of the 56th Fighter Group. The same Ramrod order reaches the group ops room. And here is where words are translated into a weapon, translated into the Ramrod to Emden. First, draw down the bomber route to the target and home again. And then the route of the Thunderbolts of the 56th Group. And all important, the rendezvous point and the rendezvous time. Always that emphasis on time. Because time is gasoline, and gasoline may make the difference between success and failure of this mission. 90 seconds is your margin for error at the rendezvous point. But in those 90 seconds, a whole group of fortresses can be wiped out if fighters miss the rendezvous. Early on the morning of October 2nd, the S2 officers prepare the maps for briefing the pilots who will fly to Emden. In this room, the attack order that began at Bomber Command completes its journey down in the Fighter Group. In another Nissan hut, a group operations officer reaches for the telephone. Briefing at 1330 hours, got it? Briefing at 1330 hours, Roger. It's a belly tank job, so get them on. And the same order goes out to the ops officers of the other squadrons in the 56th Thunderbolt Group. And in each squadron now, the pilots are taking it easy. And they know a job is cooking. And take it easy now, boys, because soon the tension begins. And soon the pilots will know which names are down for each team on today's ramrod to Emden. Each squadron commander knows his men, and wise as a football coach, he lines up his team, flight by flight. Out around the field, the ground crews put on the belly tanks that the Thunderbolts will need today to do their job. The name of this slugger is Little Cookie. And the two crosses record the huns that have been blown to kindling by the eight guns and the wings of these rugged fighters. Two things these fighters can do better than any hunt. They can dish it out, and they can take it. They have to do plenty of both. The guns are loaded, the tank is on, and finally the gas. The precious gas. Back at headquarters, the group CO studies the job in the ops room. A veteran of more than eight emissions, he knows full well what these lines on the map mean to planes and pilots. Like a Tascannini or a Benny Goodman, he must absorb and memorize the music, because he leads the job today. And next, let's check with Stormy, the weather officer. Over the sea to landfall, six-tenths cloud at low altitude. The Dutch island should be open for a landmark. But expect an overcast in the target area. The wind clocks at 110 miles per hour at 30,000 feet from the west. So get down low coming home or you might not get home. And then the S-2 officer checks the flak map. Those red areas up there on the Dutch coast spell danger. Any aircraft guns are down below that reach up to 30,000 feet, so look out. Now in the briefing room, the S-2 officers in the ops officers wind up the job of laying out today's mission on the large-scale map. And outside now, from scouted corners of a station that is sprawled all over the English hills, carefully dispersed to guard against sneak raiders, the 50 or more pilots who will go out today in thunderbolts, arrive at the briefing shack on battered bicycles and some in the always reliable jeep. If it weren't for the bikes and the jeeps, you'd have to spend half of each day just walking between the places. You have to go on the average fighter station in Britain. The bomber crews were briefed hours ago for today's ramrod to Emden. A fighter briefing is plenty serious. 50 or more pilots for the day's job file into the briefing hut and there they sit down. The CO comes in and the briefing begins. Well, here it is. The big friends are pasting Emden today. We're to give fighter cover from Zood Camp over the target and back out again to the sea and then part way home. The 56 will lead the show in. We escort the lead box of bombers. We've got to give them headgun cover. Nothing must break through. The fourth fighter group covers the tail of our task force and there should be over a hundred of us. The B-17s will be in three boxes of 60 each, altitude 25,000 feet. The course home is 249 degrees magnetic. And remember, our rendezvous with the bombers is at 1548 at Zood Camp. They'll be to the north of us. Start engine at 1443. Takeoff 1449 to 1458. Set course 1503 at 3,000 feet. Course out, 80 degrees. Target 89 degrees, 1600. Course back, 249. Land at 1722. On the back of his hand, each pilot writes down the dope on the day's job. And now back to the CO again. My wingman, White 2, will relay messages and work on the bomber channel. For the takeoff, I will lead the 61st off runway 5. The 62nd will queue up on runway 6. After I take off, the 63rd will move into position and be ready to shove as soon as the runway is cleared. And now the dope on the enemy flak and fighters for the day's job from the S-2 officer. The flak map shows you where you may have trouble today. Heavy flak around a mutant in Amsterdam and over the target, so open up. Stay out to sea on the way home. German fighter strength is heavy here. Look out for twin engine rocket ships. They'll be below you. Keep your eye out for them and don't let them through to the bombers. And now the dope on the weather. Weather will be important today because the bombers are going to hit the hunt through heavy cloud. And the weather officer takes over the briefing now. You'll see just about enough ground today to know the earth is down below. The target area and the whole stretch of the Zijdersee and Holland will be pretty well covered. The front over to the west of us won't affect the base for your return. There'll be scattered cloud winds above 110 miles per hour at 250 degrees. Con trails are possessed at 31,000. And now with a time check, the briefing will come to an end. This moment is dramatic in its tension and important. 4,000 men will be in the air on this ramrod to Emden. All 4,000 must be synchronized to the second. Okay boys, good hunting. Jeeps will carry pilots to the planes. In England as in Burma or in Italy, general mud hangs to your feet. And like everything else in every army, the jeep must carry twice the load it was designed to do. 54 pilots ride out to 54 planes. None of them know what lies ahead. They aren't worried because so far this group has shot down huns at the rate of four for one. The crew chief helps the pilot into his chute. The crew chiefs worship their planes and their pilots. And they always say, good luck sir, see you later. And sometimes they may say, how about lending me a pound until tomorrow boss? And now the time for start engine year. Six minutes after the first engine starts, the first squadron must begin to take off. Seven minutes later all 54 planes must be airborne. Chiefs ride the wings to guide the pilots into the tight packed lineup on the runway. Remember, no seconds can be wasted now. These thunderbolts will need every thimble of gas to get to the target and fight and then get home again today. Sprinters at the start has gone. Make a slow turn and then before he finishes a half turn of the field, 16 planes of his squadron plus two spares must be airborne and in position. The first squadron is off and the second gets away from the other runway. The third squadron moves into readiness where the first squadron took off two minutes ago. One slow climbing turn, all three squadrons will assemble and form into a huge V. The lead squadron in the center, the spearhead. The flights fly in a four-ship V, eight aircraft operating as a section. The trailing section flying 500 feet above the other. The two spares of each squadron struggle behind. Now the whole group sets course on 80 degrees. A slow climb to the Dutch coast, then open up into battle formation. Three hours from now, home again if you're lucky. Other fields, other fighter groups take off. Thunderbolts and lightning. In the Battle of Germany a fighter's first, last and only job is to protect the bomber. Thunderbolts must climb the high cover positions above the bomber. Climb slow and compact and then open up. Each squadron to its planned position. Throttles are kept pretty well forward so fighters must weave in orbit to cover the slower bomber. Sometimes our fighters will pull out five miles ahead to break up the frontal attack by the hunts. The Thunderbolts operate like interference in football, taking out the attackers. And it's a sight he didn't begin their slashing attacks through the bomber formations. The Thunderbolts are on top of the attackers. See those two flares? Green-green distress signal. A bomber needs help. And here come two Thunderbolts. A sticky string of lightnings moves into the battle. They cover the bombers on deepest penetrations into Germany. Keep on his tail and to the pinpoint, targets down below lips cannot take evasive action until they must forget his nose guns now and concentrate on that bomb site. Through cloud of clear skies, those eggs must go down and find the target. See those eggs on targets like these. On some missions, all the bombers go for a single target. On other days, several task forces will hammer different targets. Thunderbolts are on that island.