Above: 9 October 1943: B-17 Bomber during the first big raid on Germany by the U.S. 8th Air Force. The raid destroyed most of the Marienburg Focke-Wulf aircraft factory. Photograph under license to War History Network. Click to enlarge.

Left: A U.S. Eighth Air Force B-17 returning to England over Schweinfurt, which is now in flames as a result of the Allied bombing.

"Black Thursday," an air battle of the key military targeted-city of Schweinfurt Germany resulted in 642 casualties out of Allied 2900 pilots and crewmen--the loss of more than 18%. Losses for the Luftwaffe was more than 100 aircraft lost, and 248 fighter lost in October. The Luftwaffe had shot down "an average of twenty-eight bombers per mission." (Miller, 2006. pp. 210-212)

Strategic planning called for the Allied bombing of German ball bearing factories in the city, but the myth that this would end Germany's production of the critical aircraft parts was false. The loss of men and aircraft was not worth the temporary stoppage of ball bearing production in Schweinfurt.

Left: The roof and two floors of this building in the Kugelffischer plant at Schweinfurt, Germany, have dropped on precision machinery, observers found when making a survey of bomb damage close behind advancing allied forces. (USAAF photo) AFA LIBRARY IMAGE. Photograph in the Public Domain.

Donald L. Miller, in his epic work Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany, notes the strategic importance of the raids over Germany and air superiority for the coming June 1944 amphibious invasion of France: "For this reason alone the bomber offensive could not have been suspended after Black Thursday; the entire invasion depended upon its success. In the grim calculus of war, it was considered far better to lose a few hundred unprotected bombers than to have entire divisions slaughtered on the beaches of northern France."

Church and homes along the Main-Danube Canal, Schweinfurt, Germany today. Photograph under license to War History Network. Click to enlarge.

For further reading
Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany by Donald L. Miller. Published by Simon & Schuster, this story is being made in to a new miniseries to appear on Apple TV. Read more here.

Multimedia: Video, Web, Photo, and Discussion
National U.S. Air Force Museum: The Schweinfurt Raid  |  Video: The Schweinfurt Raid

Discussions: D-Day and the War in Europe