Mission 115 - Black Thursday - October 14th, 1943

[Yeager]

On this day in 1943 the 8th USAAF launched its 2nd daylight raid against the ball bearing factories located in Schweinfurt Germany.  This attack was carried out by B-17s  without fighter escort. 
 
291 B17s took off.  59 B-17s were shot down over enemy territory, 1 crashed into the English Channel on the return leg, and 17 bombers were so heavily damaged upon return that they were written off as combat losses.  Out of nearly 3000 airmen in the bomber crews, about 650 men did not return to their bases on this day, although 65 survived the war as POWs.  5 men were killed and 43 men were wounded in the damaged aircraft that did make it home, and 594 were listed as missing in action. Only 33 B-17 bombers landed without any combat damage. 

[Die Hard]

<S>

[MachFly]

 

[CHAPPY]

 

[Grayeagle]

Martin Caidin wrote a very cool book about this day called 'Black Thrusday' .. a great read.

Some have disputed his details, but it's a very good look at operations, offense, defense, escort, .. in the dark days before the Mustang arrived.
The 8th AF took huge losses on this mission, the Luftwaffe was on top of their game on this day, it was truly War in the Air over Germany.. on this day.

-GE aka Frank