“If it’s going to hit you, it’s going to hit you then—whatever peak of fear, anxiety, or urge to turn back, that you’re going to feel,” recalled Capt. Robert Morgan, pilot of the Memphis Belle of the 91st Bomb Group, the most famous American bomber of the European war. “Being under way is actually a relief. It’s that damn ride to the planes that nearly kills you.” The airmen had an expression, “You die on the runway, not after you’re hit.”
