The real Masters of the Air: Destruction of the 8th USAAF Over the Reich

Veterans of the Second Schweinfurt Raid recount their experiences of the worst day in the daylight air war over the Reich. That day was October 14, 1943, when the skies over the German city of Schweinfurt were etched into the annals of history as a brutal theatre of war.

As members of the United States 8th Army Air Force, we had one mission - to disrupt and dismantle the Nazi war machine by destroying their industrial complexes, particularly those involved in the production of ball bearings. These tiny components, largely ignored in the grand scheme of war, were integral to every German tank, aircraft, and military vehicle. The factories in Schweinfurt held the production reins, and thus became our target.

We were young men, mostly in our early twenties, fueled by the adrenaline rush of our mission and the knowledge of its vital importance. The memory of our predecessors who participated in the first Schweinfurt raid was a haunting specter. They had met with heavy resistance, suffered significant losses, and those of us who were to participate in the second raid knew that a similar fate might await us.

In the early hours of October 14, we boarded our B-17 Flying Fortresses. 291 aircraft took to the skies that day, a force that seemed invincible in its strength and determination. However, as we crossed into enemy territory, our confidence was put to the test. The Luftwaffe had prepared extensively for our arrival. We found ourselves outgunned, outnumbered, and faced with a daunting enemy air defense.

The Luftwaffe fighters were relentless. They exploited the bomber formation's weaknesses, particularly the area forward of the combat box where defenses were thinner. Our aircraft, though heavily armed, were primarily designed for bombing missions, not air-to-air combat. We held our own as best we could, our gunners straining at their posts, returning fire, keeping the enemy at bay while our bombadiers focused on the mission.

The view from the belly gunner's turret is one I'll never forget - the flash of enemy fire, the neighboring aircraft spiraling down trailing smoke, the fields and forests of Germany far below, indifferent to the fierce battle raging above.

But amidst the chaos and the relentless attack, we found moments of triumph. Our payloads hit the factories, causing visible damage. In these moments, the immense cost felt momentarily justified. We were striking a blow at the heart of the German war machine.

When the fight was over, and the surviving B-17s returned home, we counted the cost. 60 bombers were lost, 17 more were damaged beyond repair, and around 650 airmen were either killed, captured, or missing. Our squadron had paid a heavy price for the day's work, marking it as 'Black Thursday,' the heaviest loss in a single mission suffered by the U.S Air Force during World War II.

The Second Schweinfurt raid marked a turning point in the strategic air war. The severe losses led to a reevaluation of daylight, unescorted bombing and prompted the introduction of long-range fighter escorts like the P-51 Mustang. The young men of the 8th Army Air Force who flew on that day became a symbol of bravery and commitment, etching October 14, 1943, as a defining day in the annals of air warfare.

In retrospect, we were not merely soldiers, but pieces in the larger chess game of war, shaped by strategic decisions made far from the front lines. The Second Schweinfurt raid was a testament to our resolve, our bravery, and the heavy price of war. It was a day when ordinary young men shouldered extraordinary burdens and fought not just for their lives, but for the promise of a world freed from the tyranny of Nazi rule.

[kitharrison]

All that death, all that sky and nowhere to go but down. Incredible bravery and tragedy on all sides.

[bryancockel]

My father was a replacement waist gunner with the 305th and arrived just in time for "Black Thursday"....incredibly he was one of the very few crews to return. the co-pilot had his head blown off but was still sitting at the controls...the tail gunner was badly hit and slowly bled to death at my father's feeit in the waist position...my father never spoke of his combat experiences...ever...and he suffered terribly from PTSD (no such diagnosis at the time, but I now realize that's what it was...). I learned everything I know about his combat experiences, including Black Thursday (he didn't call it that..), from the meticulous diary he kept, which I found in our attic and read as a kid in the 60's. I told him I'd found it and read it....his face turned red and all he said was "put that back....". Since that time I've become fascinated by the experiences of my father and thousands of other thing they mostly had in ones that went through the WORST....would not talk about it just wasn't possible in those days...
Thanks for the documentary!

[henrygill]

I used to work with an old gentleman who immigrated from Poland just before the war. He volunteered for the USAAC after Pearl Harbor and became a B-17 mechanic. In England, he volunteered to be a gunner and was assigned as a B-17 ball turret gunner due to his small stature. His war ended on 14 October 1943, "Black Thursday" when his ball turret was hit by a German fighter's 20mm round severely injuring him. On the run home, he woke up and fought, passed out and then woke up again many times. The intense cold kept him from bleeding to death, and he later suffered from frostbite around his many wounds. Trapped inside his damaged ball turret, the ground crews had to chop him out with a fire axe to finally free him. His left arm was badly maimed and he only had partial use of that arm for the rest of his life. The 2nd Schweinfurt Raid, 'Black Thursday' was his 8th mission when he was sent home to spend nearly a year in recovery. He was only 20 years old. Despite all of this, he was grateful that he'd been spared when so many of his friends and comrades perished.

[puetsch]

My grandfather was a German fighter pilot on this mission and told me how cruel it all was. He himself scored 7 kills without feeling any joy.

[christopherbullock]

My dad was the pilot of Sundown Sal in the 305th and this was his 25th mission. He was shot down over Schweinfurt and spent the rest of the war in Luft Stalag III.

[billrowan]

My Dad, Jack Rowan, was a navigator with the 351st Bomb Group. He was shot down in August of 1944 over the Scheldt Estuary of Holland on his 31st and his second to last mission. He spent about ten months as a POW in Stalag Luft III and then Stalag Luft VIIA. By the 1970s he had recieved a 30% disability for PTSD. He spoke of his experiences only twice in his life. I recall him screaming in his sleep a couple of times in the 1960s after reliving his bailing out experience and seeing his B17 explode a few seconds after.

[xeutoniumnyborg]

My uncle was a ball turret gunner and somehow managed to survive the two Schweinfurt raids. His B-17 after the first raid was scrapped due to battle damage. On the second raid, two of his comrades died. After he came back from the war, he never flew on an airplane again. Late in his life, he turned down an opportunity to tour a restored B-17 as he didn't want to relive what he went through in the war.

[bobjosephs]

My father Captain Robert Josephs was a replacement crew for those lost on the Schweinfurt raid. He flew for the 305th bomb group and the 366th bomb squadron. Among the American units who paid the heaviest price was the 305th Bomb Group, losing 13 planes over 130 men, 36 which were killed with the rest wounded or POW's. He said those who survived were traumatized and depressed and told the new guys not to make any plans because they would all soon be dead. He flew 30 missions from late 1943 till D Day and about half were unescorted into Germany. He was supposed to be in his junior year in college instead he was fighting for his life.

[Gerd.]

My grandfather on my mother's side fell victim to this raid. He had an encounter with a bomb in a factory hall (he wasn't in the army, due to missing fingers from a work accident....) he lived for another 6 days after they dug him out of the rubble....literally everything broken that could in his body....died on the 7th day after....

[alexius]

My Uncle was right waist gunner on a B-17G. February 22, 1944 was his first mission. The entire crew died

[Alan-truj]

It’s hard to fathom what bravery it took to fly into such peril sitting here today in a relatively peaceful time- but I imagine you reach deep inside, into your faith, whatever helps you find the resolve - to do what must be done. I can’t imagine it.

[roywilkowski]

Some years ago, I was ferrying a VFR restricted helicopter across country and was forced to land at an airfield due to WX. There was an airshow scheduled for the next day. I arrived pretty early the following AM, anxious to be on my way. Parked fairly close to me was a B-17 with the belly door open. I couldn't resist as the whole ramp was deserted, so, having grown up watching 12 O'clock High, I did my best Paul Burke imitation and went aboard. It seemed empty as I moved forward, but in the cockpit was an old guy in the left seat. He peered back at me and motioned me forward. I sheepishly plopped my butt into the right seat, somewhat embarrassed at being caught. He asked some questions about the helicopter then admitted that he'd snuck aboard, too; just before me. Turns out he did 25 missions in B-17s in 1944. We chatted for only about 30 minutes as I wanted to beat the WX, but I felt honored to make his acquaintance.

[DieterKern-gy]

My father was a flak mechanic assigned to a heavy flak battery in the surroundings of Schweinfurt. Deliberately he never spoke much about the raids only once he gave me an inside after the heavy raid when they were scattered with airplane parts after a direct hit finding a bomber crew boot with it's content within their battery confines.

[davidpotts]

Just found this channel, thank you. I am absolutely playing a losing hand of life at the moment and these videos were good enough to take my mind off of that

[williamkirk]

My uncle was considered a "lucky" pilot. No men were ever lost in his crew. When I think of what he went through, and that of my father as an engine room officer getting locked in the bottom of a ship in combat with only the smoke stack for an exit, I thank God for my lack of combat experience.

[Happy]

My uncle was a B-17 tail gunner later in-the war! He said the few fighters he saw were fly by so fast shooting at them was impossible, but the FLACK WAS STILL TERRIFYING, WITNESS BY THE SOUVENIRS HE BROUGHT BACK STUCK INHIS BUTT! My father and him were both army air force vets and best friends till their passing! MISS THEM BOTH TERRIBLY! GOD BLESS ALL THE VETS!

[DavidSmith-sscg]

My father got up early that morning and had breakfast with the rest of the men, and went to his new assignment. His crew - that he had trained with for months back in the US - had been split up to replace casualties in other B-17s. He didn't come home with the rest of 'em, and spent the rest of the war in Stalag Luft 1 in Belsen(which I could never visit while I was stationed in Germany while I served in the US Army; it was in East Germany, part of the Soviet Block then), in the north of Germany. He would only say of the mission that "Fritz gave us a spanking that day."

[hamiltonkingsley]

I knew a guy who was a B-17 tail gunner. You can see their plane coming in for a landing in the Memphis Belle documentary. If you survived your 25 missions, you were used up. Decades later, his family offered to buy him a ride on a B-17 that was at the local Airport. He refused. He didn't want to ever be inside one of those, ever again.

[georgemcpherson]

I lived in Coney Weston in Suffolk for 12 years every so often I would take myself off and stand in front of small memorial to the 385th bombers group based at RAF Knettishall in world war 2. I would read the names of the dead and wonder at their incredible courage. Every November 11th I would buy a single poppy and place it by the memorial. There would always be flowers and poppy wreaths left by other locals at the site. The site is looked after by local people. The Swan Inn in the village still photos of the aircraft and the crews that used to frequent the pub during the war. I know the pain of losing friends in combat, ex British Army Infantry.

[Vonwra]

I’m late to this but my dads uncle took part in this mission he was a navigator for the 379th bomb squadron and was on the paddy gremlin one of only three B-17s from the 379th that returned, his name was Constant “Connie” Anzperger and he talked about this day he said it really went to shit within the first five minutes, apparently the factory had been heavily armed in rapid time faster than expected, because in the first raid the commanders had assumed they had wiped out “a decent chunk” of the defense but that wasn’t the case, AA guns and fighter planes ripped apart the B-17s like cheese to a cheese grater, and the weather didn’t help according to him his formation went through a group of clouds then out of nowhere the nazis appeared out of thin air, then they went through a second group of clouds, all he heard was guns shot, when the rest of formation he became visual he said probably one third of the squadron was gone. And with no fighter planes the B-17s were sitting ducks. Connie never really told us what happened during the actual flight or when they mad it over the factory but he did tell us about their “great escape” the crew was in such bad shape that he had to serve as the medic on the plane and they only had two gunners the nose gunner who was already injured from shrapnel, and the rear gunner, according to Connie it was so cold that the rear gunners hands has basically frozen to the turret and he could only aim at nazi fighters acting as if he would shoot them down, what’s even worse is that one of the bullets from a nazi fighter plane had damaged the hydraulics on the landing gear making them useless in Connie’s words “it felt like a mini earthquake” when they landed and the craziest part is even after going through all that he fought in another mission within months of the incident. The craziest part was after going through all this he was relatively unfazed he didn’t have much trauma though yes he would sometimes get a little uneasy when a plane would land he for the most part was quite open to talking about his experiences in WWII.