Black Bart

"Dammit!" Lemay exclaimed. "It's still a BATTLESHIP, Captain!" Presently, Lemay braced himself and they entered the barge which got under way immediately to reach the U.S.S. Missouri anchored in Tokyo Bay. Lemay went to be seated and found Bart Coltrane, Colonel Wild Bill Donovan and Sir Hugh Dalton also on board.

"What a pleasant surprise," Lemay said, as he extended his hand to the three gentlemen. "To what do I owe the honor to have Bart Coltrane and the world's top spies on my barge?"

By 1939 the Second War had already begun in Europe. France and Western Europe nations were falling to the Germans led by the awesome but little publicized German Luftwaffe.

The British Special Operations Directorate (SOE) was having great difficulties in deploying and supporting their Special Agents operating behind the lines in Occupied Europe.

They called upon President Roosevelt for aircraft and crew to take on the dangerous support missions. The President responded by sending Bart Coltrane and his B-25 crew to England where they flew high-speed, tree-top altitude support missions behind the lines for British Intelligence. These were named Black Bart missions after the British pirate John Bartholomew Roberts.

Black Bart as a character represents the early American volunteers who served with the British prior to the U.S. entering the war. The American volunteer's contribution to the British war effort was significant.