|
|
Black Thursday
Allies Air Marshall: VTAS_Sgt_Rock
Mission 84, Black Thursday, October
14th, 1943
Then suddenly the Fortress shudders, a quiet groan, but
louder than the motors and the calls on the interphone and the hammering guns. A
groan, and magically, a jagged tear appears in the left wing. And you're scared;
oh, God, how you're scared . . ."
Diary of a B-17 Gunner, 384th Bomb Group
On October 13th, 1943 the commanders of the fledgling American 8th Air Force decided to stop feinting and go straight for the Luftwaffe's jugular. That foggy night frag (fragmentary) orders started to spill out over the state of the art teletype machines. Pilots huddled over the machines, reading each word, each letter as it was banged out. Their faces paled when they read, "Maximum Effort - Target Schweinfurt." The 8th had received a bloody nose there on August 17th, when they had lost nearly 60 bombers out of a force of 300. With that kind of loss rate the 8th would survive until years end. The US was betting the farm on high altitude strategic bombing.
The American tactic of high altitude strategic bombing was based on the idea that an entire country could be paralyzed and it's war-making capability nullified if a few key industries were destroyed. Mission 84 was aimed at the Messerschmitt plant at Regensburg and the ball bearing plant at Schweinfurt.
The Regensburg plant was the main manufacturing facility for the Bf109G, the defender of the Reich. Destruction of the facility would kill the Luftwaffe on the ground, without the necessity of fighting and dying in the skies.
Schweinfurt produced 45% of all the bearings used in German industry and destroying that plant would cripple all of the mechanical production in the country. Not just aircraft manufacturing would be cripple, but also tank, automobile, and ship manufacturing could be brought to a halt.
"It sounds like some giant smashing his cupped hand down on the surface of still water. A double sound, really - the first from the impact and the sound when the shell explodes. . . Like firing a shotgun into a bucket, so that the sound and the blast all come exploding back up into your face. . . Your bowels seem weak and watery and your stomach shrivels up until you know how much damage has been done."
B-17 pilot Mission 115
The Americans launch over 300 bombers into the bitterly cold foggy morning. They begin the slow process of assembling the bombers into flights, the flights into squadrons, the squadrons into wings and the wings into an immense combat formation. Each bomber is covered by the guns of the others, maximizing their firepower. Fighters in relays escort them. The short range Spitfires give them coverage to the coast of France, and the longer-range American fighters take them in closer to the target. A giant machine is in motion, a cyborg machine made up of fragile men encased in winged metal creatures. They cross the Channel.
The radar scopes in Germany come alive with blips, massive blips. Within moments telephone operators are speaking in hushed tones to men at the fighter fields. The sirens scream and hundreds of young men made clumsy by their flight gear run to hulking metal birds with their props turning.
"Nineteen B-17s sighted without escort! We haven't seen this in quite a while. . . The formation appears nervous, but presses tightly together - it seems a eternity before all is ready . . . Fire at 20 degrees deflection, 10 degrees elevation, one and one half sight radii - The B-17's left wing falls off and strikes the next B-17 - I split esse - Attack a B-17 from the rear - Shoot off the third B-17's elevator, am almost struck by it - I am hit in the oil tank!"
Feldwebel Gerd Wiegand, JG26
"But one more thing I'll tell you. A Queen dies hard. She doesn't want to go, no more than any man inside her. You may not believe this. If you don't, its only because you haven't been up there, and you haven't watched combat hardened men cry as a ship goes down, cry as much for the machine as for the men. Because, you see, when ten men claimed her for their own, she was no longer just a machine. She was their bomber. That made her special, and made her come alive."
B-17 pilot, post mission briefing, Mission 115
Two giant machines of men and metal are on a collision course. Who will win? Only you can determine the outcome! On October 14th, 1943, the 8th Air Force suffered one of its highest casualty missions of the war. Over 1 out of 4 bombers were lost in this one massive battle. Despite the huge losses, the bombers never turned back and went on to bomb their targets. In the 305th Bomb Group 15 bombers took off that morning, only two returned. Will history repeat itself or can you make the difference?
Join us January 16th, 2000 at 12 noon PST. VTAS_Sgt_Rock, C.O., out.
NOTE: The "Black Thursday" Tournament does not include P51's as a selection. The Spit 9, P38 and P47 are the only fighter's available.
Register at CombatPilot.com!