The officers of the regiments of the Poltava Air Base. Presumably, the regimental commanders of the 169th Air Base Special Purpose. In the center of the photo is the female translator. The Americans left is Col. Barton from the 483rd Bomb Group, right is Colonel Rice 2 Bomber Group.
In 1943, the US government asked to Joseph Stalin’s resolve Heavy Bombers US Air Force fly over Soviet territory to bomb targets in eastern Germany and the Balkans, so they do not go back to England or Italy. In early 1944, the Soviet Union has allocated for this flight three fields in Ukraine in Poltava region: Poltava, Mirgorod and Piryatin (Poltava airfield complex, 169th Airbase of special purpose). The Poltava Air Base city were covered by Soviet air defense aircraft on airfields themselves everything was organized at the highest level.
Recording location: Poltava, Ukraine, USSR
Time taken: June 1944
The photo source: NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE US AIR FORCE