In the dark days following the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, Congress approved massive defense spending, and the US Army chose Great Falls, Montana, as the site of a major air base, with satellite airfields built at Cut Bank, Glasgow, and Lewistown. On October 28, 1942, the first Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses roared over Lewistown’s Main Street with their bomb bays open, skimmed the treetops, and landed at the Lewistown Airfield. Crews trained day and night in navigation, bombing, and gunnery, learned every aspect of the B-17, and practiced with the top secret Norden bombsight, a computerized aiming device said to be able to put bombs in a pickle barrel. After one to three months of instruction, aircrews flew directly to join the air war in Europe. Nearly 1,000 GIs trained at the Lewistown Airfield, becoming a welcome part of the community, marrying local girls, and winning the hearts of townspeople, though many never came home. B-17s carried 4,000 pounds of bombs and served in every World War II combat zone, but bomber squadron casualties were horrific; a single mission over Germany in October 1942 cost 60 B-17s and 600 lives. The Lewistown Satellite Airfield was deactivated after eleven months of service, and as the US Department of Defense removes temporary World War II buildings, the airfield is a rarity and its intact Norden bombsight storage shelter is the only known identifiable example remaining in the United States.