Monday, May 17, 1943. The Memphis Belle, and its crew, complete twenty-five missions.

The crew of the Memphis Belle became the first complete United States Army Air Force, 8th Air Force B-17 crew to complete twenty-five missions.

This is a somewhat confusing story and is often inaccurately portrayed.

The first bomber and crew to complete twenty-five mission over Europe was the B-24 Hot Stuff and its crew, which did so on February 7, 1943.  Hot Stuff went on to complete thirty-one missions and was being rotated home to sell war bonds when it crashed in Iceland on May 3, 1943.

The first bomber of the 8th Air Force to complete twenty-five missions was the B-17 Hell's Angels, which achieved that on May 13.

The Memphis Belle's crew was the first complete crew.  I.e., nobody who completed that mission was s replacement.  

It's not that this isn't remarkable, the odds were very much against it.  It's just it isn't quite what is generally portrayed.

The US and UK entered into the BRUSA Agreement providing for the exchange of cryptanalysis personal between the US and the British Commonwealth forces.