Into the Sky Once More is the first episode of the second season of Strike Witches. It sees the reactivation of the 501st after tte 504th fails to establish communication with the Neuroi. Yoshika graduates from middle school. On the way home from the ceremony, she saves a bear cub that was lying in the middle of the road. Yoshika engages in a brief period of introspection before she is interrupted by Micchan and then Suwa Amaki. In an extended version of the final scene of the first season Amaki delivers Dr. Miyafuji's letter to Yoshika. The letter contains a mysterious schematic. The next day, in an attempt to figure out what it means, Yoshika visits the Naval Academy to get Mio's advice. Mio isn't there, but Yoshika overhears a distress call from Lynne in Gallia. Lynne reports that the 504th was defeated by the Neuroi, suffering massive casualties and was no longer considered mission-capable. She reports that there aren't enough Witches in Gallia to mount an effective defense, and requests reinforcements. Soon after, Sakamoto arrives and attempts to dissuade Yoshika from returning to war but is ineffective, because Yoshika just ends up stealing Sakamoto's old Striker and catching up to the Type 2 float plane Mio is riding in. After a monologue about helping others, Mio lets Yoshika in, and they fly to the Adriatic Sea. There, they encounter one of the new Neuroi.
Venice, Campanile Bell Tower & Doge's Palace -- Famous landmarks in Venice. Venetians appreciate the many services the unique bell tower has performed for the city. Not only do the bells help save their souls, but they also have served to warn of incoming armies. Because it was the biggest structure in Venice for many centuries, the military used it for defensive purposes, while tourists and artists have used it to "see forever".
Venice, Bell Tower and Doge's Palace
Operation Trajanus -- Perhaps a reference to:Marcus Ulpius Nerva Traianus, commonly known as Trajan (18 September 53 – 8 August 117), was Roman Emperor from AD 98 to 117. Born Marcus Ulpius Traianus into a non-patrician family in the Hispania Baetica province (modern day Spain), Trajan rose to prominence during the reign of emperor Domitian, serving as a general in the Roman army along the German frontier, and successfully crushing the revolt of Antonius Saturninus in 89. On September 18 96, Domitian was succeeded by Marcus Cocceius Nerva, an old and childless senator who proved to be unpopular with the army. After a brief and tumultuous year in power, a revolt by members of the Praetorian Guard compelled him to adopt the more popular Trajan as his heir and successor. Nerva died on January 27 98, and was succeeded by his adopted son without incident. As a civilian administrator, Trajan is best known for his extensive public building program, which reshaped the city of Rome and left multiple enduring landmarks such as Trajan's Forum, Trajan's Market and Trajan's Column. It is for his military campaigns, such as those against Dacia and Parthia which he is best known. By these, Trajan expanded the Roman Empire to its greatest territorial extent. In late 117 while sailing back to Rome, he died of a stroke in the city of Selinus. He was deified by the Senate and his ashes were laid to rest under Trajan's Column. He was succeeded by his adopted son (not having a biological heir) Publius Aelius Hadrianus—commonly known as Hadrian.
Operation Trajanus
Junkers Ju-52 -- Nicknamed "Tante Ju" ("Auntie Ju") and "Iron Annie") was a German transport aircraft manufactured from 1932 to 1945. It saw both civilian and military service during the 1930s and 1940s. In a civilian role, it flew with over 12 air carriers including Swissair and Lufthansa as an airliner and freight hauler. In a military role, it flew with the Luftwaffe as a troop and cargo transport and briefly as a medium bomber. The Ju 52 continued in postwar service with military and civilian air fleets well into the 1980s.
Junkers Ju-52
Macchi C.202 Folgore -- The Macchi C.202 Folgore (Italian "thunderbolt") was a World War II fighter aircraft built by Macchi Aeronautica and operated by the Regia Aeronautica (RA; Royal (Italian) Air Force). Macchi aircraft designed by Mario Castoldi received the "C" letter in their model designation, hence the Folgore is referred to as the MC.202. The C.202 was a development of the earlier C.200 Saetta, with a more powerful German Daimler-Benz DB 601 engine and with an extremely streamlined fuselage. Undoubtedly the best wartime fighter to serve in large numbers with the Regia Aeronautica, the Folgore operated on all fronts. It was flown by almost all the most successful Italian aces: Adriano Visconti, Luigi Gorrini, Franco Lucchini, Franco Bordoni Bisleri, Furio Niclot Doglio, and top scorer Sergente Maggiore Teresio Vittorio Martinoli. Considered one of the most beautiful fighters to fly with wartime Axis forces, the Folgore was also an effective and deadly dogfighter. The Folgore went into service with the Regia Aeronautica in July 1941 and right away it proved to be among the finest fighters of the war, with outstanding speed and excellent maneuverability. Nonetheless, the C.202 had its defects: like its predecessor, the Macchi C.200, it could fall in dangerous autorotation. It was insufficiently armed, with two machine guns that easily jammed. The radios were unreliable forcing the pilots to communicate by waggling wings. The oxygen system was so inefficient causing up to 50-60 per cent of the pilots to break the missions off, sometimes even causing fatal accidents.
C.202 Folgore
The Yamato -- Yamato (大和), named after the ancient Japanese Yamato Province, was the lead ship of the Yamato class of battleships that served with the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. She and her sister ship, Musashi, were the largest, heaviest and most powerfully armed battleships ever constructed, displacing 72,800 tonnes at full load and armed with nine 46 cm (18.1 inch) main guns. Neither survived the war. Musashi was sunk on 24 October 1944 during the Battle of Leyte Gulf by aircraft from the U.S. Third Fleet when a string of consecutive torpedo hits overwhelmed her pumps' ability to counter the flooding. Yamato was sunk on 7 April 1945 by aircraft of the U.S. Fifth Fleet, capsizing from torpedo hits, after which a fire that had been started by one of the first bomb hits reached her aft main powder magazine, resulting in a tremendous explosion which tore the ship in half.
The Yamato
Kawanishi N1K1-J Shiden Violet Lightning -- The Kawanishi N1K Kyōfū (強風 "moderate gale", Allied codename "Rex") was an Imperial Japanese Navy floatplane fighter. The Kawanishi N1K-J Shiden (紫電 "Violet Lightning") was an Imperial Japanese Navy land-based version of the N1K. Assigned the Allied codename "George", the N1K-J was considered by both its pilots and opponents to be one of the finest land-based fighters flown by the Japanese during World War II. The N1K possessed a heavy armament and, unusually for a Japanese fighter, could absorb considerable battle damage. The N1K-J evenly matched the F6F Hellcat and was a better match than the A6M Zero for such aircraft as the F4U Corsair and P-51 Mustang. Despite such capability, it was produced too late and in insufficient numbers to affect the outcome of the war.
Kawanishi N1K-J Shiden
Type 2 Flying Boat -- The Kawanishi H8K (二式大型飛行艇, Type 2 Large Flying Boat. 二式大艇, Nishiki Daitei, Nishiki Taitei) was an Imperial Japanese Navy flying boat used during World War II for maritime patrol duties. The Allied reporting name for the type was "Emily".
Type -2 flying boat
Radio Set SCR-300 -- A portable radio tranciever used by the US Army Signal Corps, consisting of an 18-vacuum tube, quartz crystal controlled portable FM receiver and transmitter. Developed by the Galvin Manufacturing Company (Motorola). Introduced in 1943. Instrumental in reestablishing order during the Battle of the Bulge. This backpack-mounted unit was the first two way radio to be nicknamed a "walkie talkie".
SCR-300 Backpack Radio
Rome, Castel Sant'Angelo -- Sant'Angelo appears to be one influence source for the large base seen briefly in the OP and ED:
Ponte Sant'Angelo, once the Aelian Bridge or Pons Aelius, meaning the Bridge of Hadrian, is a Roman bridge in Rome, completed in 134 AD by Roman Emperor Hadrian, to span the Tiber, from the city center to his newly constructed mausoleum, now the towering Castel Sant'Angelo. In times past, pilgrims used this bridge to reach St Peter's Basilica, hence it was known also with the name of "bridge of Saint Peter" (pons Sancti Petri). In the seventh century, under Pope Gregory I, both the castle and the bridge took on the name Sant'Angelo, explained by a legend that an angel appeared on the roof of the castle to announce the end of the plague. During the 1450 jubilee, balustrades of the bridge yielded, due to the great crowds of the pilgrims, and many drowned in the river. In response, some houses at the head of the bridge as well as a Roman triumphal arch were pulled down in order to widen the route for pilgrims. For centuries after the sixteenth century, the bridge was used to expose the bodies of the executed. In 1535, Pope Clement VII allocated the toll income of the bridge to erecting the statues of the apostles saint Peter and Saint Paul to which subsequently the four evangelists and the patriarchs were added to other representing statues Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Moses. In 1669 Pope Clement IX commissioned replacements for the aging stucco angels by Raffaello da Montelupo, commissioned by Paul III. Bernini's program, one of his last large projects, called for ten angels holding instruments of the Passion: he personally only finished the two originals of the Angels with the Superscription "I.N.R.I." and with the Crown of Thorns, but these were kept by Clement IX for his own pleasure. One of the statues on Ponte Sant'Angelo, Angel with the Lance, was sculpted by a prominent Italian Baroque sculptor Domenico Guidi, the nephew of Bernini. The statue has inscription "Vulnerasti cor meum", which translates to "You have captured my being".
Rome, Ponte Sant'Angelo: Bernini's Angel holding the Spear of Longinus
