It’s 1943. World War II is raging. Hitler’s war machine stretches across Europe, and his concentration camps are operating at full force. Millions are dying.
The United States has turned the English countryside into a staging ground for one of the most dangerous missions of the war: daylight bombing raids deep into Nazi Germany.
The B-17, nicknamed the “Flying Fortress,” earned its name for a reason. It wasn’t built to outmaneuver or dogfight – this was no fighter jet. It was a bomber: big, heavy and built to fly straight into enemy territory with a payload of destruction.
Armed with up to 13 machine guns and manned by a crew of 10, it had defenses on all sides – nose, tail, top, belly and flanks. But despite the firepower, it was still a slow-moving target in hostile skies. Even with all that armor, most B-17 crews were lucky to survive just a handful of missions.
Each aircraft takes place in a tight, calculated grid, one of hundreds. These missions were often launched with 200 to 300 bombers, flying in a combat box designed to maximize overlapping fields of machine-gun fire.
This is the attack formation.
Fighter escorts would sometimes join, but mostly, the bombers were on their own.
The first enemy you face when you choose to pursue a vision is doubt. The voice in your head that whispers, “You’re not good enough,” or “What if you fail?” It’s the flak inside your mind before you’ve even left the ground.
Overcoming that voice is the decision to get off the runway. Once you commit, the wheels lift – and you’re airborne. Whether it’s your first or 15th flight, part of you knows the truth: Not everyone makes it back.
Now you’re on a mission; you’re planning, strategizing, envisioning success and charting your course. In your mind’s eye, you know that nothing will stop you; no matter what, you’re determined to stay in attack formation and accomplish the mission.
As you cruise toward your goal, you find you’re deep in enemy airspace; anti-aircraft guns begin to light up the sky.
Doubt doesn’t just come from inside anymore. It comes from the people around you. Family members who say, “Why don’t you just play it safe?” Friends who roll their eyes when you speak your dream out loud. Naysayers who warn you it’s not possible. Their words hit like explosions.
You start to question; you begin to fear. But then, just like over the radios of those bombers, a voice cuts through the noise. Calm and with quiet authority, it says, “Stay in attack formation.”
The voice doesn’t just steady your hands – it anchors your soul. You weren’t called to run. You were called to endure, to press on, to finish what you started.
More obstacles emerge. The enemy sends fighter planes – more aggressive now. These are the betrayals, the setbacks, the business partners who walk away. The financial losses. The public failures. The sabotage. The moments when you’re left spinning, wondering who or what you can trust.
Up ahead, you finally see the target – the mission you set out to complete. But the closer you get, the heavier the resistance becomes. You feel alone, standing in the fallout. So much time has passed, but something inside tells you you’re fast approaching the breakthrough. Yet the thought appears, “Maybe I should run!”
The radio crackles to life, barely cutting through the roar and chaos, and a voice comes through again: “Stay in attack formation.”
This is it – the heart of enemy territory. Bullets tear through the fuselage. You’ve lost an engine. Your crew is shouting over the radio. You watch another bomber take a direct hit and spiral into the fire below. Everything in you screams to pull away, to climb out, to survive.
But this is the moment of truth – the point of no return. Either you deliver, or you turn back and live with the regret. The pressure is suffocating.
It’s not just about surviving the journey. It’s about finishing the mission and making it back home.
You were never meant to coast through clear skies. You were built for the storm. For the resistance. For the fire.
So whatever your target, keep flying toward it.
Stay focused. Stay disciplined. Stay locked in.
Stay in attack formation!
• Toby Moore is a Shaw Local News Network columnist, star of the Emmy-nominated film “A Separate Peace,” and CEO of CubeStream Inc. He can be reached at feedback@shawmedia.com.