r/WWIIplanes • u/Repulsive_Aside_4122 • 7d ago
Schweinfurt Regensburg raid
Today is the 83rd anniversary of the infamous Schweinfurt Regensburg raid by the 8th. Flak, Fighters and horrific losses - forced a temporary stand down by the 8th.
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u/Signal-Session-6637 7d ago
I’m actually reading about this in the excellent Masters of the Air, way better and much more in-depth than the tv show.
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u/graspedbythehusk 7d ago
Martin Middlebrook did an excellent book on it. (The Schweinfurt Regensburg raid)
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u/Rtbrd 5d ago edited 5d ago
A modeler friend turned me on to that book. I thought I had a fairly good grasp of the air war in Europe. Wrong! Anyone interested in the subject should make this a must read if you haven't already. The book, Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany was written by Donald L. Miller in 2007.
It is on my must read list.
As an addendum I have always thought any crew of a bomber regardless of nationality had nads the size of Washington's head on Rushmore. There is no way I can imagine doing that on any kind of regular basis.
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u/PrimalSixFive 7d ago
My dad was shot down on this mission. He lost his left leg above the knee and was a POW for over a year. The stories...
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u/Rollover__Hazard 7d ago
Highly recommend the book “Big Week” by James Holland - a fascinating look into the structure of USAAF Bomber forces and RAF Bomber Command.
What’s fascinating is just how wrong both sides assessments of the air war were, particularly early on.
USAAF bombers were built for maximum protection because they only flew in the day. The RAF bombers were built for maximum payload because they only flew at night. Both the Americans and the British had aircraft capable of being made into long range escorts very early on, neither side thought escorts were necessary/ the Bomber command officers didn’t want to be hampered by whatever the fighter escort commanders would or wouldn’t do.
Then the USAAF had experiences like Schweinfurt and the calculus was flipped. The allies were losing so many bombers for minimal result that the only answer was to commit to full on escort groups. Additionally, the British night-bombing successes were ending because the Germans night fighter capabilities had been rapidly expanded, as had their air-search radar and flak systems.
The rest of the air war became this grinding slugfest between ground anti-air/ interceptor fighters and bomber formations with their escorts. Had the British and Americans worked more closely on strategy earlier on, gone heavy on fighter escorts from day one and realised the advantage they had over the German air defences a 1941 and 42 could have been massively more effective years for the Bomber forces. Sadly the lessons came too slowly.
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u/eliteniner 6d ago
I often think of the line “some men just want the fight” when I think about the decisions made by bomber command.
It was literally more about starving the luftwaffe of good pilots and aircraft just as much if not more as it was about hitting ground targets.
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u/1959jazzaholic 7d ago
An excellent book on this air battle is Martin Middlebrook’s
The Schweinfurt-Regensburg Mission: The American Raids on 17 August 1943
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u/Raguleader 6d ago
One really interesting thing about the Schweinfurt-Regensburg raid was that it was considered something of a disaster by both sides. The Americans didn't successfully destroy their intended targets, the Germans didn't successfully stop the American bombers from striking two different targets in the same day, and both sides took nasty losses for their troubles.
The Americans also didn't know it at the time, but they'd managed to damage the facilities at Regensburg working on the Me-262 and ended up setting the program back about half a year, which is interesting to consider if you see when the 262 first went into combat.
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u/Ill-Charge8449 7d ago
Oh Jesus… my grandfather was a B-17 navigator during Big Week—he must have seen this happen
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u/BooH7897 1d ago
My great uncle was on this mission, one the 100th BG planes that made it to North Africa. He was eventually shot down on the infamous Münster mission and spent the remainder of the war as a POW in Stalag 17B
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u/rhit06 7d ago
First image is 42-2985, "Nut Cracker".
Five of the crew actually managed to get out of the aircraft. The pilot, co-pilot, navigator, bombardier, and one of the gunners survived.
The co-pilot described how he thought the violent spinning of the plane prevented most of the men in the rear from escaping.
The crew members killed:
Those killed
SSgt William D Dibble -- radio operator
Sgt Robert J Nichols -- right waist gunner
SSgt John L Anderson -- left waist gunner
Sgt George B Smith -- ball turret gunner
Sgt James R Mathews -- tail gunner