Summary: When Gen. Savage's plane is shot down by a German Trojan horse (a captured B-17) pretending to be a straggler, Joe Gallagher, by now a colonel, takes over temporary command of the 918th. As a reluctant candidate for permanent status, he must face the withering scrutiny of General Britt, as well as his own feelings of inadequacy. As if that's not enough to handle, he also has to deal with Sgt. Komansky, a resentful and defiant former member of Savage's crew, and a burgeoning romance with Mlle. Arnais, a French journalist. And that dreaded Trojan horse is still lurking out there, triggering dangerous suspicion and ready to claim another unsuspecting victim.

Summary: Something nefarious is afoot in the 918th. Stricken by a series of mechanical mishaps that have already cost several planes, Gen. Savage's group is tasked with ferrying a beautiful spy to a parachute drop over Nazi-occupied Poland. Once again, the bomber assigned the mission is struck by gremlins that bring her down with the loss of a popular pilot and co-pilot, but the spy survives for another try. With this latest disaster, tensions between the air crews and ground crews explode into mayhem. But evidence starts to appear that indicates the miscues may not be accidental, and suspicion runs rampant through the base, endangering the spy's mission and the confidence of the troops.

Summary: New recruits arrive at the 918th, and one of them, a young gunner with a stellar training record, Cpl. Steve Corbett, is chafing at the bit to get into combat so he can kill some "krauts". On his first training mission, however, he panics when his gun jams, and Sgt. Komansky steps in to settle him down and teach him the ropes, which pleases Col. Gallagher because it is the first time Komansky has shown anything but a "me first" attitude. Unfortunately, Corbett's actions become even more erratic in subsequent missions, leading to the unearthing of a secret that may embarrass the Army Air Corps if it becomes general knowledge. And all of this on the eve of a particularly tricky mission on which Corbett could be a major asset.

Summary: Lt. Josh McGraw, a boyhood friend of Col. Gallagher, arrives at the 918th with his crew and bomber as replacements. Gallagher is glad to see him, but McGraw pulls some reckless stunts because he has always felt overshadowed by Gallagher and wants to make a name for himself. As his exploits grow to ever more dangerous and defiant levels, Gallagher struggles with how to handle his old friend and still get his missions accomplished. But this only seems to inflame McGraw's resentment and rebellious attitude even more.

Summary: As part of a brand new strategy called "shuttle bombing", the 918th lands in North Africa at the end of the first leg of the flight seriously short on fuel. Unfortunately, they are forced to use an airfield that has only just been liberated from the Germans by a motley group of Allied units commanded, by chance, by Col. Gallagher's older brother, Preston. Now the Nazis are determined to take the field back in a massive counterattack. Not only are Preston's forces badly outnumbered and out-gunned, but he is suffering from battle fatigue and on the verge of a breakdown. To make matters worse, he has commandeered his brother's fuel for his own plan to retreat, leaving Joe's planes and his mission in grave danger.

Summary: The tables may be turning in the air war in Europe. The P-51 has arrived, with the promise of providing escort to the B-17s all the way to the heart of Germany. The first 18 are assigned to Gallagher's 918th, but his gunners manage to accidentally shoot one down on the very first mission. This sets a very bad tone between Gallagher and the fighter commander, Col. Troper, who are thrown together to make the new system work. Troper, already an ace with 22 kills, chafes at the need to protect the bombers at the cost of being able to hunt down the Luftwaffe fighters, and his resentment builds to a dangerous and destructive intensity.

Summary: Sgt. Komansky lands Col. Gallagher's plane full of wounded crew members after Gallagher is incapacitated with a concussion. Komansky is now up for a Silver Star and a possible promotion. The ambitious Susan Nesbit wants to turn Komansky into a hero to boost her journalistic career. Komansky, an orphan, is having trouble coping with the sudden attention. Things don't get any easier as Komansky and Nesbit began to fall for each other.

Summary: On a practice for night mission, they are being tracked by Vendry's unit They change course and evade successfully but "Chub" has to correct as he was off target. Chub is distracted because of his girl Kitty. On the actual night mission into Norway to pick up legendary resistance leader Arn Borg, they are told to look for the King Frederick light. It seems to be a trap as the Germans are waiting. The plane gets shot at lands and picks up Borg who brings his son Christian back with him. Gallagher is angry. Backs at base, Borg's map is impossible to read. Gallagher is ordered to fly another reconnaissance mission. Borg runs away so they decide to take Christian to show them the target. Borg comes back and flies the mission. They bomb what seems to be a heavy water storage facility and the mission is successful. Borg goes back to Norway.

Summary: A German-born U.S. bomber pilot insists on flying until every Nazi is dead or cowering. Colonel Gallagher despises his pilot Major Kurt Brown's disdain for crewmen, and growing fanaticism, but needs Brown's skills, while General Britt wants the Iron Major to head up a division. When Gallagher asks Brown to escort a British flyer's grieving widow home, the increasingly paranoid Brown sees it as a manipulative tactic by his commander. Brown's repressed fears begin to crack his defiant exterior.

Summary: The 918th is being chewed to pieces while attempting to bomb a target in Norway so secret, even Joe Gallagher doesn't know what it is or why it's so important. In fact, in it's latest try, the mission commander, Col. Christie, decides to abort and turn back only 4 minutes from the target after losing 8 out of 21 bombers, with 4 more heavily damaged including his own. Infuriated by the excessive losses and secrecy surrounding the missions, Joe alienates his superiors when he aggressively defends Christie against a looming court martial. To the rescue, possibly, rides his father, Lt. General Gallagher, who is hellbent on getting his son his first general's star. But Joe is in no mood to discuss promotion with his friend and the reputation of the 918th teetering on the edge of oblivion.

Summary: The XO, Harvey, and Lieutenant Colonel Rogers, the 918ths acting commander, watch the latest mission come back very chewed up and missing at least 6 six planes. Harvey feels responsible. Sandy hands him a telegram, his son is an MIA. Harvey goes to see General Britt and requests to go back on flying status. He gets an age waiver. Gallagher comes back and is furious with Harvey. He passes his physical by memorizing the eye chart. Gallagher puts Harvey through the wringer but Harvey passes his flight test. On the mission to bomb the marshaling yards at Antwerp, they make the run then get attacked by Bf-109's.

Summary: The 918th Bombardment Group bombs a target in Wesselhaven, Germany and evade Nazi fighters by flying south into North Africa on the first leg of a shuttle raid. Luftwaffe Colonel Falkenstein, enraged by the American's new tactics, takes four fighters after Col. Joe Gallagher's group. In the meantime, Gallagher's plane has developed engine trouble and is forced to temporarily land in Yugoslavia, hopefully to repair two damaged engines. On the ground after a harrowing landing, Gallagher and his crew are captured by a menacing band of Yugoslavian Partisans.

Summary: Lt. J.D. Jones is a pilot with a serious problem; with each mission he flies he loses more of his self-confidence and composure. Finally, he causes his bomber to crack up on takeoff, killing or injuring several members of his crew, including his severely wounded co-pilot. His flight engineer, Sgt. Chapman, gets into hot water over black-market trading in weapons, and he needs an alibi. Chapman convinces J.D. to cover for him in return for shifting the blame for the crash on the comatose co-pilot. J.D.'s older brother, Frank, at first protective, becomes disillusioned with J.D.'s deceit to the point of washing his hands of the matter entirely.

Summary: On a mission to transport two generals with important secret information pertinent to the Normandy invasion, Gallagher's bomber is forced down in the no-man's land between German and Russian battle lines. Hampered by a severely wounded General Stace and his aide, Sgt. Trask, who appears to be afraid of everything including his own shadow, Gallagher hunkers down in a bombed out church until they can make good an escape. Unfortunately, the Germans return to the village, and Gallagher has to find a way to slip past them with the vital info to reach the Russian lines.

Summary: Limping home on two engines, Col. Gallagher is trying to reach the English Channel to safely dump his bomb load before landing. Unfortunately, a German fighter attack triggers the bomb release early, with one finding its way onto an occupied French town that is key in helping downed Allied fliers escape to England. The explosion kills the leader of the local resistance group, angering townspeople into cooperating with the Germans. It also injures the son of the leader's daughter, who brings him to England for treatment...and to find the man responsible for the bombing and exact vengeance.

Summary: On the way back from a mission, a mentor of Joe Gallagher's, Colonel Gus "Pappy" Wexler is flying as an observer. Gallagher asks Fowler to let Wexler fly in the co-pilot seat. They are attacked by ME-109's and Joe is wounded, Pappy takes over calling Gallagher "Bernie". At HQ General Pritchard asks Harvey Stovall's opinion of Wexler. General Britt is away in Washington and if he is not back, Pritchard will be looking for a new Wing Commander. He is thinking of Wexler or Gallagher. Gallagher is on the sick list so Wexler becomes acting Group Commander, and Gallagher the acting Wing Commander. Wexler wants things run by the book. On the next mission, he takes 3 planes and turns too early and aborts. He calls his Bob Fowler, his co-pilot "Bernie", and when Sandy questions him, Wexler orders him to stand down and report to the Flight Surgeon when he is back. Later in the Star & Bottle, the pilots celebrate with Wexler and he makes a good show of it.

Summary: With Allied bombing operations stymied by mysteriously improved German radar capabilities, Col. Gallagher becomes involved with a multi-national, multi-service commando mission aimed at knocking out the enemy facilities and stealing the technology for study. The undertaking is put at grave risk, however, by a combination of poor coordination between the different units involved, Nazi spies, and the reluctant participation of a key expert, Captain Deel, who happens to be a problematic acquaintance of Gallagher's from his past. And now Deel is having a fling with the sister of an important British officer involved in the task who is not at all happy about it.

Summary: Col. Gallagher's plane is shot down, and he parachutes into Switzerland. As a neutral party in the war, the Swiss are obligated to intern Gallagher for the duration, but he has important information about a vital target, and so American agents direct him to the French resistance to get him to the English Channel to safety. However, his escape is complicated by the tag-along of the daughter of one of his contacts who has been shot by the Nazis, and a German deserter trying to evade being executed by his own troops or by the French who still see him as the enemy. The question now is whether the Underground can deliver Gallagher, and whether he can trust everyone who seems to be on his side.

Summary: Weather plays havoc with the 918th in their attempts to disrupt German naval operations based in Hamburg, forcing multiple aborts and reducing accuracy even when they can glimpse the target through overcast skies. Badly needed help arrives in the form of a meteorologist from the States with the expertise to more accurately predict weather conditions at the target. As it turns out, the meteorologist turns out to be a rather attractive woman. The combination of Gallagher's views of the weather as an enemy, his sexist condescension to her despite her abilities, and his overactive libido, threaten to undermine her efforts. Her panicked reaction to air combat doesn't help matters much either.

Summary: Lt. Wilson, a young, inexperienced fighter pilot, is so eager to get his first kill and fit in with his flying mates that he manages to shoot up Gallagher's plane while chasing an enemy fighter. Gallagher is willing to chalk it up to youthful exuberance and let the matter drop, but Sandy takes it personally and makes Wilson's life miserable. To make up for it, Wilson volunteers for a dangerous mission and ends up saving Gallagher's life at great peril to his own. This makes him an instant hero, especially in Sandy's eyes. It also leaves him craving even more attention, but at what risk.

Summary: Frustrated by heavily overcast skies that make precision bombing impossible, the Allies are at wit's end, until Dr. Rink arrives with a new, top secret technology enabling them to "see" through the clouds - airborne radar. The first missions employing the device are wildly successful, especially since the Germans cannot effectively intercept the bombers with fighters or anti-aircraft because of the cloud cover. Unfortunately, the Germans quickly devise a counter-measure that actually uses the signals from the device to trace the bombers, allowing them to pinpoint the Americans with deadly accuracy. Only Dr. Rink has the knowledge to turn the tables once again, but he is virtually catatonic at the apparent failure of his technology.

Summary: Major Parsons has apparently just completed his 25th mission, making him eligible to be rotated back to the States, out of the fighting, something he celebrates with great relish. However, Gallagher has formulated a plan to knock out an exceptionally difficult target, and it requires a pilot with qualifications that match Parson's to a tee. The Major is definitely not inclined to volunteer with a guaranteed return to safety in hand, especially since the assignment has the earmarks of a suicide mission. No amount of persuasion budges him, that is until General Britt discovers a technicality that leaves him at 24 completed missions, instead of 25.

Summary: Capt. Bradovich arrives at the 918th as a replacement pilot. He immediately gains a reputation as an arrogant, by-the-book officer who has no interest in making friends or participating in the camaraderie of the Group. His dubious standing is seriously worsened when he is apparently the only survivor after his bomber is shot down. As it becomes harder to find crewmen willing to fly with him, Col. Gallagher must get to the bottom of Bradovich's exclusionary attitude or risk dangerously undermining the morale of his command.

Summary: After 49 successful missions, Angel Babe is the Grande Damme of the 918th bomber fleet, and to some like her flight engineer, Sgt. Willets, she even seems to have a soul (and mind) of her own. Her endurance has earned her the label of good-luck charm to the men of the Group. Upon completion of her 50th mission, the Army has decided to retire her from active service and return her to the States for a life of leisure as a recruiting icon. But Angel Babe seems to have other ideas, as she suddenly develops a multitude of mechanical ailments that thwart that final-mission goal. Not only does this strange turn of events recast her as an albatross, it also casts a shadow of suspicion over Willets due to his insistence that she's not ready to withdraw from combat.

Summary: While returning from a planning session in Scotland, Col. Gallagher's plane is shot down over the North Sea. He ends up in a rubber raft along with the only other survivor, Capt. Powell, a rich kid who happens to be a pilot Gallagher drummed out of the 918th because of a propensity to avoid danger. Now they wait out efforts by Allied rescue units to find them. Bad luck intervenes, however, and they are picked up by a German U-Boat. Surprisingly, Capt. Wessel, commander of the sub, treats them with gallantry and returns them to the island where he found them. Unfortunately, they soon discover that his intentions were far less than honorable as they become the bait in his trap.

Summary: Lt. Bolen returns to the 918th after escaping from a German prison camp where he was brutally interrogated by the Nazi SS for five months. Despite being given the opportunity to return to the States due to his ordeal, he insists on returning to active duty as a pilot and is promoted to the rank of Captain. He also has valuable information about a target that the Allies keep missing, and so he is included in a risky mission to pinpoint the plant for the rest of the Group. While training for the mission, however, the psychological damage from his torture contributes to a midair collision that kills the crew of another bomber and members of his own crew. The guilt of his actions combined with the emotional scars from his internment threaten to destroy his sanity and gravely endanger the vital mission.

Summary: Thomas Carpenter, a pilot who washed out of flight training and was subsequently dishonorably discharged from the service for insubordination, finds his way to England as a civilian and proceeds to infiltrate the 918th and masquerade as a captain. Desperate for replacements, Gallagher puts him to work as co-pilot on several missions to test his mettle while waiting for confirmation of Carpenter's status that will never come. Carpenter is eager to command his own bomber before his ruse is discovered, but his impatience keeps his evaluator, Capt. Perry, from recommending him. As his veil of lies begins to tear apart, he becomes ever more desperate and willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish his mysterious goal.

Summary: The 918th gets a bitter taste of its own medicine as the Germans carry out a surprise bombing attack on the base at Archbury. During the raid, Capt. Archer, the Group Chaplain, loses his sweetheart and proceeds to kill a defenseless enemy parachutist, leading him to a serious loss of faith. Meanwhile, another trio of Germans, captured after their plane goes down, hatches a plot to escape and complete their original mission - blow up the Group's ammunition depot.

Summary: Employing a new fighter interceptor strategy based on concentration and coordination, the Germans are taking a frightening toll on American bomber operations. To add insult to injury, they taunt the frustrated flyboys with radio broadcasts from a sultry British female turncoat who seems to know almost as much about the mission plans as Allied Command. However, Gallagher devises a plan to turn the German strategy against them, but it requires intelligence information that only a deeply infiltrated spy can provide. Success of Gallagher's plan puts the agent at great risk as the Germans scheme to turn the tables once again.