The Mighty Eighth Air Force
bomber image

  25 March 1942

WEDNESDAY, 25 MARCH 1942

Major Cecil P Lessig becomes the first AAF pilot to fly a mission over France in World War II. Flying a Spitfire VB with RAF 64 Squadron from Hornchurch, England, Lessig participates in a 36-aircraft fighter sweep that is recalled when 50 Luftwaffe fighters challenge them.