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Overview
Major Peter Gray and his wife Ann arrive at the 918th. Savage knows Ann as Ann Goss and was going to marry her a year ago. At Wing HQ, a WAC in photo reconnaissance points out something suspicious on a map, and because she says it reminds her of a Michellene (Mechlin) Lace pattern Savage dubs the investigation photo reconnaissance mission ""Operation Spelling Bee"". As Major Jake Hays is still laid up with a fractured knee, Savage chooses Gray to lead and tells him it is a milk run. The mission is to bomb the rail yards at Saint Edouard, then fly over the camouflaged area for photo reconnaissance. Gray is jealous of Savage's former relationship with his wife and feels that Savage assigned him this mission on purpose. It turns out that the camouflaged area at Saint Edouard are really launching sites for new V-2 bombs and German fighters are around in droves. Only 12 of 20 of the planes return from the photo reconnaissance mission. On the next mission to Saint Edouard, Savage leads a 4 gro
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1. Golden Boy Had Nine Black Sheep
1964
Captain Joe Gallagher aborts twice in a row bringing him to the attention of General Savage. Savage feels that Gallagher has a chip on his shoulder and is not pulling his weight and assigns him a new plane ""The Leper Colony "" . He tells Gallagher he is going to get a crew of malcontents, ""a co-pilot who is all thumbs, a navigator who can't find his feet, a bombardier who could not hit his plate with a fork"". Gallagher applies for a transfer, but Harvey delays it. Gallagher will have to turn them into a crew. Captain Gallagher is tough on his crew but they start to perform well and after 5 missions, Savage says they have earned the right to change the name. They all decide to keep it, but Gallagher's transfer has come through and he still wants out. Before he goes he wants in on a special 2 plane mission. Savage agrees and they complete the mission but Gallagher's airplane is hit and co-pilot Blake wounded. He can not abandon the aircraft so he gets it home safe. Savage promotes him to
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2. Follow the Leader
1964
Savage wants the 918th to try a new technique, bombing on the leader. Instead of each bombardier sighting his own target and then making his own bomb-run, the entire group would synchronize with the lead bombardier and when he drops, the whole Group drops. Both Generals' Crowe & Pritchard are opposed to the idea but Savage presses for it. His lead crew consists of Bishop, Zimmerman & Mellon. Mellon has been recommended for the DFC for a previous mission. When his best friend the Navigator was badly wounded, Mellon stayed at his post and made the bomb run anyway. The run was successful but the friend died. Mellon is shaken and on the next mission, the entire group misses and bombs a school. Unsure whether it was faulty equipment or his error, Mellon does not want to be lead bombardier any longer. Savage pushes Mellon and they go up again and successfully bomb the target.
