The Schweinfurt–Regensburg mission was a strategic bombing mission during World War II carried out by Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers of the US Army Air Forces on August 17, 1943.

The iconic bomber of the European theater, the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, carried the fight to the Germans in the skies over Europe.

The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is an American four-engined heavy bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). A fast and high-flying bomber, the B-17 dropped more bombs than any other aircraft during World War II, used primarily in the European Theater of Operations.

On August 17, 1943, the U.S. 8th Air Force, the main American unit of heavy bombers stationed in England, launched 376 B-17 bombers against Schweinfurt and Regensburg in Germany, a raid that came to symbolize the dangers of unescorted bombing.

Launching Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortresses" and Consolidated B-24 "Liberators" from bases in England's eastern countryside, the Americans bombed their targets during the day while the British attacked at night.

Some 229 of 291 B-17s hit the city area and ball bearing plants at Schweinfurt in two groups: the first group bombed at 14:39–14:45 hours, the second group at 14:51–14:57 hours. They claimed 186 Luftwaffe aircraft - more than four times the Germans' actual losses of 35–38 aircraft.

Aug 17, 2024 · Boeing B-17E Flying Fortress 41-2578, the lead ship on the 17 August 1942 air raid on Rouen-Sotteville, France, flown by Major Paul W. Tibbets, photographed at RAF Bovingdon, 1943. By the end of the war, this airplane was …

May 24, 2018 · In October 1943, Eighth Air Force bombers flew through hell to bomb Schweinfurt, Germany. For them, Schweinfurt meant only one thing: a killer town that was one of the most savagely defended targets along the aerial high road above Hitler's Third Reich. B-17s from the 379th Bomb Group head toward Schweinfurt on August 17, 1943. (National Archives)

Apr 9, 2024 · The Schweinfurt-Regensburg raids in Germany were a series of attacks by B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator bombers of the United States Air Force in August and October 1943 during the Second World War (1939-45). Schweinfurt had several ball-bearing factories, and Regensburg had Messerschmitt aircraft plants, making both targets crucial to ...

On February 9, 1943, a B-17 crew operating in the Solomon Islands got into a running gun battle with multiple Zeros. The plane, badly damaged, began to descend toward the ocean. Three engines were dead.