They make two abortive landing attempts. On the third the wheels bounce and the B-17 ground loops and explodes, killing the three aboard.
Infield's B-17 is now on two engines. The second's oil pressure bottomed out and went dead a hundred miles out over the North Sea. Of the remaining two one is feathered and one is windmilling. They are down to 400 feet over the English countryside. They'll have to land.
A mile ahead Horham Base fired a green flare as the last two engines pull maximum power.
At the last possible moment the gear dropped into the airstreams. At 125 MPH a stall is imminent but Infield reasoned that if he dumped flaps he'd lose directional control. The control buffeted on the edge of stall and the flaps were lowered. The B-17 bounced hard short of the runway and then rolled onto the hard surface.
The first mission of Big Week was over.
On February 21st maximum force was sent to Brunswick and western Germany targets. On the 22nd with fouled weather only 99 8th A.F. bombers hit their targets out of 255 that bombed at all from the 466 planes dispatched. The 15th A.F. got 183 bomber in the air and 118 bombed the Messerschmitt factory at Obertraubling near Regensburg.
On the 23rd only 102 bombers of the 15th A.F. damaged a ball-bearing plant at Steyr, Austria. With good weather on the 24th all bombers of the 8th were up and bombed Schweinfurt, Gotha, Tutow, Kreising and Posen. The 15th hit Steyr again. The final day of Big Week saw attacks on Regensburg, Augsburg, Stuttgart, and Furth.
LITTLE FRIENDS-LITTLE ENEMIES
Now the fighters were unleashed to pursue the Luftwaffe whenever met instead of stay with the bombers and men like those in the 4th Fighter Group, the likes of Godfrey, Gentile, Hofer, Goodson, Blakesley and Beeson began to run op their tallies.
Later in Big Week the little friends defended the big friends well. On the 24th Don Gentile, with about five hours in the new P-51B, tagged along with the bombers bound for Schweinfurt.
At 25,000 feet four FW 190s raced in head-on for the bombers at 21,000 feet. Leading Blue section, Gentile noted the German attack regimen- phalanxes of four attacked, rolled and fired as they passed through the formation. Gentile followed one as they dodged Forts and passed through .50 caliber streams of defensive fire.
Clear of the bombers Gentile fired one long and two short bursts from 500 yards. The 190 smoked and dove straight into the ground. Gentile pulled out at 8,000 feet and went back up.
On the 25th the group was protecting the heavies over the Stuttgart ball-bearing plant and the Augsburg Me 110 factory when FWs attacked. A lone B-17 at 10,000 feet was taking a beating. Gentile led his section down from 25,000 feet and picked out an enemy. He fired at 400 and again at 300 yards. From 75-yards behind he could see the strikes from the API as chunks of 190 tore off. German oil covered the P-51 and the pings of departing pieces showered his plane. The 190 plowed into the ground.
Thunderbolt pilots were scoring too. Hub Zemke's 56th Fighter Group took out fifty-nine enemy aircraft during that week. Francis "Gabby" Gabreski and friends had the 150 gallon drop tanks that could extend the P-47's range all the was to Leipzig.
On the 20th at 22,000 near Hannover fourteen Me 110 were spotted and Gabby broke for them, diving. The P-47 zeroed in on the second 110 from the rear and opened up from behind. He exploded when the Jug was only 50-yard behind. Line abreast, eight Thunderbolts opened up with their sixty-four .50s. Bob Johnson scored his kill number fourteen.
Gabreski allowed the Thunderbolt's inertia to carry him on to a 110 in the forward formation and commenced firing at 500 yard with the same result. Johnson was covering Gabby and took down his fifteenth enemy plane. At 50-yards he broke as the plane came apart. Other 110s were suffering the same fate from the squadron as Gabreski hit at a 110 that dived into a cloud.
Zemke found that the 110s were from III/ZG26 and Luftwaffe records indicate that almost all the "damaged" claims from the 56th really ended up as kills. Gabby claimed a damaged also.
On the 22nd Gabreski took down an FW 190 and strafed a field at St. Anthonis, Holland damaging a Dornier parked there. Mike Gladych claimed two 190s in the air.
On the 23rd Zemke was leading the group over Holland. Just as the 56th was due to leave the B-17 to the P-51s they were attacked. Zemke rolled and went down, picking out a 190 with a wingman way behind him. 20mms exploded all around Zemke's Jug. The wingman had fired with a long lead so he would fly into the shells as he dove. The electric gun sight was out and he tried to use the static post and ring back up sight as he stayed with the 190's maneuvers easily. Soon down to tree top level and having no luck with the deflection shots that used 300 rounds, he wisely broke off.
By the 25th few Luftwaffe planes were seen and none pressed attacks.
At Arnheim, Holland Hein Knoke's squadron got the alert of "concentrating enemy forces" as the bomber clusters wended their way eastward.
Heinz Knoke missed a Fortress and went with no claim on the 20th, but on the 22nd attacked one in a thirty-plane formation. Though the B-17 attempted to evade, the Bf 109G's shells drove home and the crew bailed from the flaming Fort.
At 1600 on the 25th, with many comrades lost, he again climbs his Gustav to 15,000 and is met by planes from his 3rd squadron, vectored by ground control. "Climb to 25,000 due north…many heavy babies approaching over the sea sector Dora-Dora," was the call.
He checked his supercharger, RPM, boost, oil and coolant temps as he climbed to 33,000 feet. Ground control informed him to watch for enemies to the left in sector Seigfried-Paula. The sight of 600-800 bombers 6,000 feet below with their vapor trails was awesome. He checked his Revi sight and guns, and then peeled off to dive in a frontal attack.
Thunderbolts were coming down behind them though. Knoke held the stick with both hands and, with forefinger and thumb, depressed his triggers feeling the recoil shake the plane. A wing crumpled on a B-17 though he wanted to hit the cabin.
But that was the only pass on the heavies possible since the Thunderbolts were all over the 109s. Knoke flicked around trying to gain firing position but always had several P-47s behind him. They were only outnumbered four or five to one in the melee until some P-38s join in.
A close miss forced Knoke into his favorite evasion maneuver- a tight climbing corkscrew. Looking below with another 109 to he right they saw four Lightnings down to the left and went after them.
But Knoke over shot and was now in the P-38's sights. He pushed over into a tight spiral dive. Rivets pop from the wing root and the G force pummel him as he pulls out. Just then the P-38 streaked by trailing flame. His mate, Wenneckers, had saved him.
On February 21st top French ace, Pierre Closterman, got a scramble call. He was soon in his special high altitude Spitfire VII, one of two, climbing to a radar contact at 40,000 feet. Thinking it was one of the Ju 86P high altitude recon craft he vectored in.
Thinking of cutting off the retreat, the Spits strained up to 41,000 feet. To their surprise, they spotted a Bf 109G with drop tanks painted pale gray over sky blue and no nationality markings.
The German dived, no doubt using GM-1 nitrous oxide boost, Closterman reckoned, and speeds soon hit 600 MPH at 27,000 feet! Wingman Ian Blair, was ahead of Closterman and at 10,000 feet fired from 600 yards distance. The 109 tore apart. But by 8,000 feet both Spits gently pulled out to avoid crumpling the wings and returned safely to base. Perhaps the 109 was looking for where all those bombers had come from the day before!
EPILOGUE
General Hap Arnold declared the week successful. 3,300 bombers of the 8th and 500 of the 15th Air Forces had taken on the Luftwaffe. Later days saw better-coordinated escort from the 3,673 fighters involved too. 137 American bombers were lost with 2,600 KIA, missing and wounded. The British lost 157 during coordinated night raids.
But more importantly, Luftwaffe records showed, and General Galland agreed, a loss of 433 pilots killed, 341 missing and 277 wounded plus 2,121 aircraft destroyed in February. 10,000 tons of bombs were dropped during Big Week by American, and 9,198 tons at night by the British bombers. The 90% loss of production disruption was never really recovered from and it paved the way for D-Day in June by seriously weakening the Luftwaffe who conceded air superiority to the Allies.
Never again would the U.S. commit its entire aerial force. 1,000 plane raids would hammer the Reich and the Luftwaffe would put of fierce local defense but never its entire force again.
Lt. William received the Congressional Medal of Honor and Sgt. Mathies and Lt. Truemper got posthumous ones while DFC and Air medals were handed out like aspirins.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Baker, David
Adolph Galland
Windrow & Greene Ltd, London, 1996
Closterman, Pierre
The Big Show
Chatto & Windus Ltd. GB, 1951
Gabreski, Francis
A Fighter Pilot's Life
Orion Books, NY, 1991
Galland, Adolph
The First And The Last
Ballantine Books, NY, 1954
Infield, Glenn
3,800 Bombers vs. The Luftwaffe
Atlas Publishing, NY 1963
Knoke, Heinz
I Flew For The Fürher
Berkley Publishing Corp, NY 1953
Johnson, Robert
Thunderbolt
Ballantine Books, NY, 1958
Spagnuolo, Mark M.
Don S. Gentile
College Press, MI, 1986
Zemke, Hubert
Zemke's Wolfpack
Pocket Books, NY, 1988