The Dakota Queen was an aircraft based in Italy that conducted strategic bombing during World War II

Strategic bombing during World War II

Strategic bombing during World War II is a term which refers to all aerial bombardment of a strategic nature between 1939 and 1945 involving any nations engaged in World War II...

 in the European Theater of Operations

European Theater of Operations

The European Theater of Operations, United States Army was a United States Army formation which directed U.S. Army operations in parts of Europe from 1942 to 1945. It referred to Army Ground Forces, United States Army Air Forces, and Army Service Forces operations north of Italy and the...

, particularly missions of the Oil Campaign

Oil Campaign of World War II

The Allied Oil Campaign of World War II was directed at facilities supplying Nazi Germany with petroleum, oil, and lubrication products...

. The bomber was piloted by George McGovern

George McGovern

George Stanley McGovern is an historian, author, and former U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the Democratic Party nominee in the 1972 presidential election....

 (later a US Senator and the 1972 Democratic presidential nominee

United States presidential election, 1972

The United States presidential election of 1972 was the 47th quadrennial United States presidential election. It was held on November 7, 1972. The Democratic Party's nomination was eventually won by Senator George McGovern, who ran an anti-war campaign against incumbent Republican President Richard...

) and named after his wife (both were from South Dakota).
Notable missions include:

• • December 16, 1944: The lead 741st BS
    741st Missile Squadron
    The United States Air Force's 741st Missile Squadron is an intercontinental ballistic missile unit located at Minot AFB, North Dakota.-Mission:...
    
     pilot bypassed the Brüx
    Most
    Most is the capital city of the Most District, situated between the Czech Central Mountains and the Ore Mountains, approximately northwest of Prague along the Bílina River and southwest of Ústí nad Labem.-Etymology:...
    
     refinery due to flak: "I'm not sure to this day that he wasn't right in avoiding that almost suicidal bomb run" (George McGovern.)
  • December 20, 1944: a mission in which both engine numbers 2 and 3 were put out of operation by flak damage, and the aircraft landed at Vis Island
    Vis (island)
    Vis is the most outerly lying larger Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea, and is part of the Central Dalmatian group of islands, with an area of 90.26 km² and a population of 3,617 . Of all the inhabited Croatian islands, it is the farthest from the coast...
    
     in the Adriatic Sea.
  • February 8, 1945:An attack on the Regensburg airfield destroyed 12 Me 262s on the ground.

After World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

the Dakota Queen flew missions delivering food in Europe.