83 years ago First Lt Benjamin Kelsey of the United States Army Air Corps took off in an experimental army plane from March Field in Riverside California on what would be a very exciting trip that marked the debut of one of the iconic aircraft of the Second World War. There was only ever one Lockheed XP-38, but it would alter the face of aircraft design, and the course of the Second World War.
By September of 1944, the Western Allies had broken out of the Normandy beachehead, and suddenly and quickly moved across northern France . By September 7th, the 90th division was stretched across the northern sector on Patton’s Third Army’s left, advancing slowly northeast. As they did so the German defenders made a risky attack in an effort to spoil the allied advance, cutting through Allied lines in a surprise action at the small town of Mairy-Mannville.