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World War II: Eighth Air Force Raid on SchweinfurtAviation History | 7 comments | Print This Post | Email This Post
The element of chance involved in death, injury or capture was never more evident than on Black Thursday. Some bomb groups were almost annihilated, while others were untouched. The 305th lost 13 out of 15 Fortresses dispatched and the 306th lost 12, while three other 1st Bomb Division groups, the 92nd, 379th and 384th, lost six each. The 3rd Bomb Division fared much better, with its seven groups losing only 15 aircraft overall and three-including the Bloody 100th-losing none. From the vantage been repeated at two-month intervals for a six-month period, the bearings industry ‘could not possibly have survived.’ Subscribe Today
But it would have mattered little if Speer had telephoned that information directly to Allied Bomber Command, because the Eighth Air Force did not have the resources to follow up. Without fighter escort to minimize losses, several more missions would have wiped out the Eighth’s Bomber Command, and no projected results would justify that. The answer was at hand, though, and that was the North American P-51 Mustang long-range fighter, which began to arrive in England in December.
In the aftermath of Schweinfurt 11, it would appear that the British doctrine of night bombing was vindicated and the American daylight precision concept discredited. But that was not the case, for several different reasons.
It was true that B-24s and B-17s could not withstand determined fighter opposition without sustaining prohibitive losses. But the key word was ‘determined.’ American heavies were far more able to withstand fighter assault than other bombers, which was why the Germans were forced to add cannon and rockets to their aircraft to provide the necessary firepower to bring bombers down without being shot down themselves by the heavy defensive screen. The extra weight and drag resulting from the added weaponry made them much more vulnerable to Allied fighterswhich meant that the Germans needed large numbers of fighters to penetrate the bombers’ defensive screen, and that they usually stayed outside the screen or waited for stragglers or cripples if they could only attack singly or in pairs.
Had the bombers been completely naked to fighter attack, it would have been well into 1944 before the USAAF had enough escort fighters to cover the hundreds of bombers that took part in raids. As it was, the toughness and defensive firepower of the B-17 and the B-24 made the job of fighter escorts easier.’Without their own fighter escort they (bombers) were no match for enemy fighters,’ Cajus Bekker wrote in the book Luftwaffe War Diaries. But the effect of their guns, multiplied by the overlapping firepower coverage of the combat box, resulted in a ‘veritable barrage. The whole aircraft bristled with guns, leaving no blind spots."
In addition, the Luftwaffe was forced to bleed other fronts of precious day fighters to counter the effectiveness of day bombing, allowing these aircraft to be hunted down and destroyed by Allied fighters.
Night area bombing, while destructive, had little measurable effect on the Nazi armaments industry, as Speer and others have emphasized repeatedly. It did not destroy civilian morale when used against either England or Germany, and Amer ican fire bombing raids against the Japanese had little appreciable effect until the awesome power of the atom bomb ended that conflict. ‘It was not … area bombing by night that struck the vital blow at German survival,’ Bekker wrote. ‘This mission was accomplished to a far greater extent by the selective and precision bombing of the Eighth Air Force in daylight. By careful choice of target… this finally brought the whole German war machine to a standstill.’
Moreover, night bombers were not immune to fighter interception. On the night of February 19-20, 1944, over Leipzig, the British Royal Air Force lost 78 bombers. Another 72 were lost March 24-25 en route to Berlin, and another 94 over Nuremberg March 30-3 1. These catastrophic losses forced the temporary suspension of the night bombing offensive. Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6Help HistoryNet by bookmarking to
            Tags: 20th - 21st Century, Aerial Combat, Airborne Operations, Aviation History, Historical Conflicts, World War II
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7 Comments to “World War II: Eighth Air Force Raid on Schweinfurt”
This will be interesting to my Uncle Larry, who flew with the Mighty 8th.
By Douglas Reid on Jul 16, 2008 at 11:09 am
This will be of interest to my Uncle Lary, who flew with the8th
By Douglas Reid on Jul 16, 2008 at 11:14 am
I have often wondered if preemptive american bomber strikes against German Fighter fuel depots, runways and other ground resources thus hindering the murderous “turkey shoot” that went unhindered against approaching American bombers heading for Schweinfurt. It seems to me that crippling German defensive resources preceding the attacks at Schweinfurt, A single success at knocking out German fighter fuel depots, runways and fighter bases would seem to have caused a major disruption to German defenses of Schweinfurt, would have significantly reduced both the range and number of fighters that availed themselves of refueling and returning to battle and engaging American bombers approaching and leaving the Schweinfurt region. Perhaps this was considered and but nont chosen however the reason escapes me.
This tactic was employed by American air forces proceeding the brief air war preceding air strikes in Granada,Panama and repeated in the Gulf war. While such an initial attack would surely have resulted in many bomber losses in an initial bombing run against fuel, runways and Germain fighter resources, I have often wondered if such a strike against German fighter defenses followed closely by an attack at Schweinfurt, would have denied the Germans much of their ability to mount a 300 fighter armada against an American offensive strike on the strategic ball bearing facility.
By Festus Boozer on Sep 10, 2008 at 6:12 am
An excellent article about the “Black Thursday” mission. There are a few questionable errors: First, the 96th Bomb Group of the 3rd Division flew out of Snetterton Heath rather than rather than Grafton Underwood, their original base. Second the 305th BG out of Chelveston lost 13 and had three get back to base. Third: The 306th BG had 10 shot down, three got back to base and two crashed in the UK. You may ask how do I know? I was the radio operator on the 306th plane “Cavalier” which was the only plane from the 367th Squadron to reach the target and get back to base. This was my fourth mission. I went on to fly 31 missions, the final 16 on the “Rose of York”, a plane that was lost over the North Sea after I had completed my combat tour.
By George G. Roberts on Feb 19, 2009 at 6:37 pm
I am responding to the email from George Roberts on Feb.,19 2009. I was researching George in the hopes of finding out some information on my Uncle Harry, Harry C. Moore(Flight Engineer)I believe with the 306thBG 367th BS. He was on the “Rose of York”, along with “Impatient Virgin” and “Belle of the Blue”. They also flew the Schweinfurt(First over Germany)mission. That’s about all I know. I have been researching for some time now, and read about you on the Gil Cohen website with the “Almost Home” painting. Very nice!
If you please, if you know of him, I would greatly appreciate any information.
Sincerely!………..Della Norris
By Della Norris on Jun 27, 2009 at 10:20 pm
My father Tsgt Ed Fox flew with the 306BG, 369squadron and was wounded on the second Schweinfurt raid. I know George Roberts through the Second Schweinfurt Memorial Association. I am the educational director for the group and since yours is a recent posting I will see if I can get in touch with George and have him offer a response. Valor Studios came to our reunion last Oct in Pooler, GA and that is where the signing of “Almost Home” took place. If you have been to the museum there you may have seen the “Rose of York” jacket on display. I believe that is George Robert’s. Valor Studios does such important work – we are lucky to have them here in Pennsylvania.
By S. Moyer on Jul 16, 2009 at 12:10 pm
If you are looking for information on the 306th Bomber Group, the Kalamazoo Air Zoo Museum has probably the most complete record of information on the 306th. My father, R. A. Strong (a Kalamazoo native), was the secretary and publisher for the 306th BG Association for over 30 years, as well as the author of “First over Germany”. He turned over most of his research to the Air Zoo 3 years ago. He will also be turning over his card index on flying 306th personnel (probably the most complete you’ll ever see) to the 8th Air Force Museum, Savannah, GA sometime this fall (2009).
By David Strong on Jul 21, 2009 at 1:06 pm