Us Official Photographs

Liberators over Balikpapan

Smoke plumes rise thousands of feet in the air as Liberators, Mitchells and Lightnings of the "Jungle Air Force" head homeward following a 150-plane attack on wasted Balikpapan, long a target of the 13th AAF. The installations, badly battered but still producing Jap oil, burned for two days following strike. Bomber Command officials termed this mission, "the best co-ordinated attack in the Pacific".