“I noticed a couple of competitors burst perhaps go to website not much underneath, vanishing inside the sheet sets out of orange flames, B-17s losing in all the condition off distress, out of engines ablaze to manage counters take to out, amicable and you will challenger parachutes drifting down and you may, to the eco-friendly carpet much underneath us, numerous funeral service pyres of cigarette smoking of dropped flights, marking our walk.”
The three electric batteries out of 88-mm guns organized inside the target did their finest in order to disturb the brand new bomb operates, nevertheless best bomb teams put their activities out of bombs truthfully. Following, of course occurred throughout an enormous assault on one target, dust and cigarette smoking in the explosions and you may fires blurred this new aiming things, and you may next bombing is smaller specific.
Immediately after bombing the mark, the brand new B-17s proceeded south. A couple damaged bombers kept the fresh new formation and headed to own basic Switzerland. 7 significantly more broken airplanes went down on the path to Algeria.
Of 146 big bombers which had establish to own Regensburg, seven turned-back, and 139 crossed the fresh new Dutch shore. Twenty-four of them have been lost.
The newest Schweinfurt raiding push, comprising 230 B-17s, circulated the assault later in the day. It too suffered heavily on German fighters and you can flak, dropping thirty-half dozen bombers.
Another “new” weapon was new 21-cm rocket, a great German Military infantry firearm modified getting sky-to-air use
Hence, of your own 376 B-17 Flying Fortresses you to definitely put down off The united kingdomt to help you bomb brand new two essential aim, sixty have been shed. Read More