Us Official Photographs

During a Recent Strike on Jap-held Iwo Jima

During a recent strike on Jap-held Iwo Jima, this U. S. Army 7th AF P-38 Lightning limped away from the target with its left engine shot out, its right wing badly damaged and in flames. Lt. Fred C. Erbels, Jr., Glenside, Penn., nursed his crippled plane back to its Saipan base in a four hour and 40 minute grueling over-water flight, longer than the distance from London to Berlin. A 7th AAF Liberator bomber, flying with flaps down to reduce its speed, escorted the damaged fighter home.