Today in World War II History—April 25, 1944
Thursday, April 25, 2024 by Sarah Sundin
Pre-invasion Bombing of Pointe du Hoc by US Ninth Air Force A-20 light bombers, spring 1944. (US Army Center for Military History)
80 Years Ago—April 25, 1944: Countdown to D-day: due to damage from a US Ninth Air Force raid, German gun crews at Pointe du Hoc move surviving guns 0.8 miles south of the battery site and place telegraph poles in original positions. Read more “The Land Beneath Us – Tour of Pointe du Hoc.”
A helicopter is used for combat air rescue for the first time—a Sikorsky YR-4B helicopter of the US 1st Air Commando Group rescues four downed airmen in the Burma jungle, one at a time over two days.
Sikorsky YR-4B at NACA Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, Hampton, VA, 29 March 1945 (NASA Langley photo: EL-2003-00296)
