On May 8, 1944, the B17 climbed and joined other bombers in the cloudy skies over England. It had been a smooth takeoff. Thomas L. Thomas adjusted his navigator's seat in the plane's nose section and glanced out toward the clouds that quickly enveloped the ground beneath the plane. In one sense, he felt somewhat sheltered when the plane joined other planes 25,000 feet above the English Channel. He imagined that the layer of clouds hid the Flying Fortresses from the flak of enemy fire. However, he knew it was a false sense of security.