Editor’s note: photo and caption were pulled from the National Archives Catalog. An armorer of the 15th U.S. Air Force checks ammunition belts of the .50 caliber machine guns in the wings of a P-51 Mustang fighter plane before leaving an Italian base for a mission against German military targets. The 15th Air Force was organized for long-range assault missions, and its fighters and bombers range over enemy targets in occupied and satellite nations, as well as Germany itself. Ca. September 1944. 208-MO-18H-32984.