The 'maximum effort' mission on Christmas Eve 1944 was the biggest ever by the Eighth Air Force.

This was the Mighty Eighth's 760th mission – with 2,046 heavy bombers and 853 fighters taking to the sky.

It meant "everything that can fly, will fly" as the USAAF entered the Battle of the Bulge to protect Allied troops from the Nazi war machine.

It was the biggest air armada ever seen – a bomber stream more than 300 miles long described as the greatest day in the history of aerial warfare.

In this episode, we visit Lavenham airfield (USAAF Station 137), home to the 487th Bomb Group to examine the strategy behind the mission.

We visit the Airmen's Bar at the Swan Hotel in Lavenham, and pay tribute to Brigadier General Frederick W. Castle, who led the mission.

And we speak to an 85-year-old village resident who as a schoolboy attended a Christmas party hosted by the Mighty Eighth in 1944.

Thank you for listening to the Mighty Eighth Podcast.

Mighty Eighth Podcast episodes are co-hosted, written and produced by Johann Tasker and military historian Mike Peters.

To contact Johann and Mike, email johann@ruralcity.co.uk or visit our website at www.mighty8thpodcast.com.

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