The Americans did something few of their allies could afford: they sent their combat veterans home. Where other air forces tended to keep experienced men flying until they were killed or the war ended, the U.S.A.A.F. rotated a bomber crewman back to the States once he finished his tour — often to instruct at a training base, passing hard-won combat knowledge to the men coming up behind him. It was a policy built on abundance. By 1945 the U.S.A.A.F. had grown into the most powerful air arm on earth, and part of that strength was the pipeline: a steady flow of survivors turning green crews into ready ones, so the losses over Germany could always be replaced.

The figure stands at ease in a fur-collared leather flight jacket over a yellow Mae West, flight trousers, fleece-lined boots and an officer's peaked cap. He rounds out a heavy-bomber crew diorama alongside the Co-Pilot and the Ball Turret Gunner, all under the early-war command of Lt. Col. James Doolittle.

W. Britain model 10175. 1/30 scale (approximately 60mm), matte-painted metal. Single foot figure on a sculpted base. Boxed.