The appearance of over 100 Eighth Air Force B-17s in the sky above Warsaw on 18 September 1944 came too little too late for the beleaguered Polish fighters below, and marked the end of the most ambitious effort of operational collaboration undertaken between the United States and the Soviet Union during World War II.  The use of airfields on Soviet territory to enable American heavy bombers to fly one-way missions over Germany, known as "shuttle bombing," lasted only four months.  This idea was first broached to the Soviets during the Moscow Conference in October 1943 but only brought an "approval in principle" from the Soviet government.  General John Deane, head of the United States Military Mission to Moscow enumerated the goals for shuttle bombing:  render the whole of Germany vulnerable to strategic bombing; force Germany to redistribute and thin out anti-aircraft and fighter defenses; increase the tonnage of bombs dropped on German targets by flying missions on days that weather precluded landing in England or Italy but did permit landing on Soviet territory; shuttle bases would serve as a proving ground for the vast air operations American planners hoped would materialize from Siberia against Japan.  American Ambassador Averell Harriman pressed the shuttle proposal with Stalin in early February and preparations soon began to construct air bases suitable for the needs of heavy bomber units for use by Summer 1944.

Three shuttle bases were constructed in Ukraine: Poltava, Mirgorod and Piryatin.  In April 1944, USSTAF established its Eastern Command Headquarters (ESCOM) at Poltava.  B-17s from the Fifteenth Air Force flew the first shuttle mission, code named Operation FRANTIC, on 2 June 1944 and flew missions from the shuttle bases for a week before returning to Italy in hopes of diverting German aircraft from the D-Day invasion.  The Eighth Air Force flew the second shuttle mission on 21 June 1944 with disastrous consequences.  That evening the Luftwaffe launched an attack against the Poltava airfield in what became one of its most successful attacks against the American air forces during the war.  Nearly fifty parked B-17s were destroyed and nineteen others damaged with no losses to the attacking German force.  The following night the Luftwaffe attacked the Mirgorod airfield but the remaining American bombers had been relocated to Kirovograd.  The success of the German attack embarrassed the Soviet government, whose responsibility it was to defend the shuttle bases.  USSTAF commander General Spaatz limited shuttle operations to fighter sweeps until a satisfactory arrangement could be found for adequate defense of the bases.  The Soviets refused American proposals to add a night fighter squadron and American anti-aircraft units to the bases since it would entail more American personnel on Soviet territory, a development the Soviet government wished to avoid.

The next two shuttle missions were conducted by fighter units from the Fifteenth Air Force.  Since American losses on these fighter sweeps were high in relation to the actual damage inflicted, Spaatz reluctantly decided to allow heavy bombers to resume shuttle missions on 6 August 1944 to keep the shuttle initiative alive.  While relations with the Soviets over the use of shuttle bases and at the bases themselves had seriously deteriorated over Summer 1944, it was the Warsaw uprising in August 1944 that proved the final catalyst for the end of the shuttle missions.  The Polish Home Army in Warsaw rose against their German occupiers as Soviet forces reached the eastern bank of the Vistula on 1 August 1944.  The Soviets made broadcasts to the Poles that seemed to encourage them to launch the uprising but ceased all artillery and air support once the fighting in Warsaw began.  The Soviets gave the Germans a free hand to destroy the uprising because the Home Army was aligned with the non-communist Polish Government in London.  The British and American governments both wanted to air drop supplies to the beleaguered Poles but Stalin refused the use of the shuttle bases or even use of air space over Soviet-held territory for the missions.  Finally, on 12 September 1944 Stalin relented and approved of the supply drops.  At this point, he had little to lose politically.  The initial successes of the uprising had been reversed and the Polish fighters had lost most of the city.  Weather prevented a 15 September American supply mission from England, and when Eighth Air Force bombers finally appeared over the city on 18 September the supply effort proved futile.  Dismayed Poles watched the bulk of supplies descend into German-held areas that the Poles had controlled only a week before. 

The 18 September 1944 mission proved to be the final shuttle mission.  The Soviets communicated to the American government that they wished for ESCOM to conclude its operations and turn over the bases.  American officials had no practical arguments to counter the Soviet request.  Soviet advances had left the ESCOM bases too far east to be of much value for strategic operations.  As the Soviets continued their advance west, targets in Poland that were once out of range for the Eighth Air Force were rapidly being overrun by Soviet forces.  An arrangement was eventually reached with the Soviets to keep Poltava open with only a small American detachment in case shuttle missions were needed in 1945.  The bulk of American personnel departed Soviet territory in October 1944 and Poltava instead served as the evacuation point for American air crews who went down behind Soviet lines in Poland.  The shuttle missions that were flown between June and September 1944 never reached the strategic potential that American planners had hoped.  Weather, especially during winter months, continued to hamper mission planning, shuttle missions were too sporadic to have a strategic impact, and American advances in the Pacific by 1945 made the use of Siberian airfields unnecessary.

     
 The wreckage of two 96th Bomb Group B-17s following the 21 June 1944 attack.  A Soviet soldier stands guard in the foreground.

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 Photograph taken during the 21 June 1944 German raid on the shuttle bombing base at Poltava.