Size: 4.5 x 3.25 inches

This original WWII photograph was taken by Lieutenant Donald Wright (0-2056313) of the 342nd Bombardment Squadron. The photo itself is not dated and shows aircraft from the 342nd Bombardment Squadron

During his service and combat operations Lt. Wright took these photographs as his squadron participated in long-range strategic bombardment of occupied Europe, attacking airfields, marshaling yards, industries, naval installations, and other targets in France and the Low Countries. During World War II, the 342d Bombardment Squadron was a B-17 Flying Fortress squadron, assigned to the 97th Bombardment Group, Fifteenth Air Force. It earned two Distinguished Unit Citations. The squadron was then reassigned to the new Fifteenth Air Force and the Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO) in southern Italy, November 1943, flying a combination of B-17Fs and new B-17Gs. From Southern Italy it engaged in very long-range strategic bombardment missions, attacking targets in Italy, France, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, and Greece, attacking oil refineries, marshalling yards, aircraft factories, and other strategic objectives. It participated in the first shuttle-bombing mission to Russia (Operation Frantic) in June 1944. The squadron returned to the United States after the German capitulation in May 1945, and prepared for transition to Boeing B-29 Superfortress aircraft and deployment to Twentieth Air Force in the Pacific Theater. Japanese capitulation in August ended training activities; the squadron was demobilized and inactivated in October.