Oregon Chapter
8th Air Force
Historical Society

Preserving the history of the Mighty 8th

"Milk Run" News 2007 - 2020

A compilation of history news from around the world with an emphasis on World War II aviation and the US Eighth Air Force.

"Milk Run" Definition:

Milk Run: Slang for an easy mission into Hitler's "Festung Europe" by the 8th Army Air Force bomber units, uneventful, routine. A combat mission where you attack the enemy and get credit for a successful mission toward your tour total but no enemy fighters, nor any effective anti-aircraft guns, are expected to be firing at you. Word origin based upon the routine nature of delivering milk every morning to people in the US in the 1920s. First referenced in print in 1925. See “cake walk”. Antonym of Schweinfurt.

Depending on where you were in the world, and during what year of the war, a tour could be 25, 30, 50 or 100 missions before an American flyer would be reassigned out of combat. The British night bomber crews flew 30 misson tours, and RAF fighter pilots flew 50 mission tours.

Russian, German, Japanese, Italians and other AXIS personnel all flew until they were killed, captured, or wounded and could not return to combat.

All "Milk Run" newsletters are in Adobe Reader PDF format.