USAAF arrive in England

31st July 1942: As the American 'invasion' of England gets under way, those arriving have mixed impressions of their new home

B-17E Flying Fortress bomber in flight, 1941-1942.

Lieutenant Harry R. Erickson, from Mankato, Minnesota, a bombardier of the 97th Bomb Group inside the nose of a B-17 Flying Fortress. A censor has obscured the ammunition to the bottom left of Erickson. July 1942.

The first elements of the U.S.A.A.F. were now arriving in England, the beginning of a huge armada of men and machines that would join the RAF in bombing Germany and other targets in the occupied continent of Europe. By the end of the war the USAAF would have over half a million personnel in Britain.

The flight to the southern English bases from the USA could not be undertaken directly but went via Maine, Canada, Greenland, Iceland and Scotland. The trip took a week.

‘I thought I'd seen everything but this place takes the cake. The people are so backward it is pitiful.’