Ninth U.S. Army Air Force presses offensive against Germans

Photograph of a Ninth Army Air Force colonel talking with a Red Cross field director in front of a Consolidated B-24 Liberator aircraft, North Africa, circa 1943-1944.

Typed caption glued to verso: "Ninth U.S. Army Air Force presses offensive against Germans. An American colonel (right), leader of a heavy bomber group of the Ninth U.S. Army Air Force, talks with an American Red Cross field director after returning to his desert base in North Africa from a successful mission. The plane is a four-motored B-24 Liberator, of the type which blasted the oil fields and refineries at Ploesti, Romania, on Aug. 1, 1943, in a daring low-level attack against one of Germany's most important gasoline and oil sources. Planes of the Ninth Air Force also conducted the first raid on Rome, bombing military targets, and struck deep into enemy territory to raid Wiener Neustadt, Austria, from their African base, in addition to many other missions against the Germans in North Africa and Italy. Serviced by New York to List L. 16474-FO. Approved by appropriate U.S. authority."