1944: Operation FRANTIC. Stalin approved US use of Soviet bases for “shuttle raids” against Germany. The operation allowed bombers based in the west to attack German targets beyond the point of safe return and then recover in the Soviet Union. To support those operations, ATC aircraft flew round-trip missions between Tehran, Iran, to bases near Kiev, Ukraine. The operation, originally known as Operation Baseball, was intended to permanently establish three heavy bomber groups in Soviet territory, but only about 1,300 men, were eventually detached to the American bases in the USSR.