U.S. Air Force Comics #22

When Communist jet fighters threaten to seal off the Berlin air corridor by shooting down civilian aircraft, the U.S. Air Force devises an audacious plan: disguise a heavily armed B-52 bomber as a harmless passenger plane and send it straight through. Major and Captain must navigate the high-stakes flight as enemy fighters close in, forcing a tense confrontation over who will truly control the skies. In this 1962 war story from U.S. Air Force Comics, courage and quick thinking become America's only answer to Communist aggression.

A B-52 bomber crew assigned to patrol duty over hostile territory must stay aloft carrying a live atomic bomb while world leaders negotiate at a summit conference, but the crew members—including Master Sergeant Lonsdorff, Captain Tanner, and Lieutenant Vanecchio—are all planning to leave the Air Force, and their reluctance weighs heavy as enemy fighters repeatedly attempt to shoot them down. As the hours stretch on and the stakes grow higher, the unwilling warriors discover they've become far more important to global peace than they ever imagined.

Captain Art Masters has built a reputation as a decorated Air Force hero—largely by accident, thanks to publicity and a well-timed medal from Korea—but he's desperate to prove he's more than just a handsome face for recruitment posters. When he's finally given a real combat mission against a Soviet bomber, he handles it flawlessly, only to find himself shipped off to a Veterans Day ceremony in Washington with a TV camera mounted in his cockpit, where an old rival pilot has other plans for him. Masters must face his true test of courage, not in training or propaganda, but live on national television with the eyes of the nation—and a saboteur—watching his every move.