At US Army Air Force Base in Africa, American flyers find relaxation in their tent with a game of checkers before taking off on a bombing mission. 1943 - Reprint

At US Army Air Force Base in Africa. Flyers of the United States Army Air Forces in Egypt, helping the British Eight Army rout Rommel's Adrika Korps by bombing bases and strafing Axis troops, live in tents pitched on the desert sands only a few steps from their planes. There they wait, ready to spring into instant action. Before taking off on a bombing mission, American flyers find relaxation in their tent with a game of checkers. Left ro Right: Lt. Robert L. Metcalfe, Capt. Gordon Thomas, Lt. Roy E. Whittaker and Capt. Thomas. U.S. Air Forces Africa, located at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, is combined with U.S. Air Forces in Europe and is the air component for the Department of Defense unified command - U.S. Africa Command located at Stuttgart, Germany. USAFE-AFAFRICA directs air operations in a theater spanning three continents, covering more than 19 million square miles, containing 105 independent states, and possessing more than a quarter of the world's population and more than a quarter of the world's Gross Domestic Product. During the Cold War, USAFE-AFAFRICA was a fight-in-place fighter force postured for a large-scale conflict. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, it has transitioned to an Air Expeditionary Force with a mobile and deployable mix of people and resources that can simultaneously operate in multiple locations. Its role in Europe and Africa has expanded from warfighting to include humanitarian and peacekeeping operations, as well as other non-traditional contingencies throughout its area of responsibility.

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