The Schweinfurt Slaughter

[TacoKing]

Hi, I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed last nights mission. It's was my first time in the CT and just my first week on Aces High.  Congrats to TheBug on his leadership getting the formation of B-17 as far as it did .  Next time we need some P-51's flying escort.  I do wish we had made it to our target.  The bombs from all those B-17 hitting the factory would have been a site to see. I had a lot of fun flying with you all, allied and axis.


TK

[ergRTC]

Or maybe even p47s escorting us into france.  How bout fixing the drone bug?

That would have been a great time to increase the fuel multiplier.  All you would have had to do is figure out how high it would have to be to land a p47 in england on fumes after taking the b17s into deep france and then heading home.  

uggh.  All these interesting possibilities and nobody is willing to touch the controls.

[VWE]

TacoKing  

[Skyfoxx]

In case you missed it, the reason for no escorts was an attempt to stick to the Schweinfurt theme. Otherwise escorts would have been used. There will be plenty of opportunities for the use of escorts in other upcoming themes.
The LW did a splendid job of intercepting and attacking our buffs.
I was downed just before my drop (better be glad I ran out of ammo 109s;)) but I think one lone B17 did make it to target and dropped just before being swarmed by LW defenders. One thing that did hurt the buffs was the LW's ability to get downed pilots airborne again almost immediately. But the B17's weren't expecting a cakewalk were they?
I'm certainly not complaining, it was a very fun mission regardless of the outcome. Looking forward to next Thursday. I hope to get some mission pics posted over the weekend.

From USAF Museum website:

The 8th Air Force attack of October 14, 1943, against the ball bearing factories at Schweinfurt, Germany resulted in the greatest air battle in history. Through the years since that date, it has become known as "Black Thursday" in Air Force history because of the very heavy losses of men and planes.

For hundreds of miles inbound to the target area, the B-17 bomber formations were attacked again and again by untold numbers of enemy fighters of the German Luftwaffe. Despite the horrible spectacle of B-17 after B-17 falling earthward to destruction, those bombers still able to fly never wavered from their course.

After "Bombs Away," the AAF planes turned off the target and headed westward for England and their bases. Almost immediately the German fighters, having landed and refueled, struck again, forcing the American planes once more to fight for their survival as they had done inbound to the target area.

Finally, the B-17s reached the coastline of Europe and relative safety, although many of them were so heavily damaged that they would never fly again.

In the final tally, Headquarters 8th Air Force reported that 251 B-17s had departed on the mission, 60 had failed to return, 5 had crashed in England because of battle damage, 12 had to be scrapped because of crash landings or battle damage, and 121 had to be repaired before being flown again. Even worse, 600 men were lost over enemy territory, and there were 5 dead and 43 wounded flyers in the B-17s that did return.

[o0Stream140o]

Originally posted by Skyfoxx
In case you missed it, the reason for no escorts was an attempt to stick to the Schweinfurt theme. but I think one lone B17 did make it to target and dropped just before being swarmed by LW defenders.

Yeah that was Lambo31 who made it to target.  He got 8 ammo factories and one gun enplacement.  Good job Lambo...

[Skyfoxx]

Originally posted by o0Stream140o
Yeah that was Lambo31 who made it to target.  He got 8 ammo factories and one gun enplacement.  Good job Lambo...

I should have known it was a checkertail who made it.
Nicely done Lambo.

[storch]

JG 54 upped 8 110's  I believe we lost 5 airframes and one pilot for 9 Buffs killed and another 15 assists.  since we didn't score this mission I tallied the victory calls and the "wtf assist I got his wing" calls to come up with a close to wartime estimate.  Some of the kills were confirmed upon landing by the system announcing pilots with multiple kills.

Upon landing 6 JG54 Fw190 Jabos upped to hit V118.  We took out 2 vehicle hangers all the ack and fuel as well as 6 A2A kills with the loss of 5 pilots and airframes.

Speaking for myself I had nothing but fun