The Schweinfurt Regensburg Mission: The American Raids on 17 August 1943 by Martin Middlebrook

Author:Martin Middlebrook [Middlebrook, Martin]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
ISBN: 9781844684496
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2012-07-18T21:00:00+00:00

Every one of those thirteen German Gruppen assembled for action would succeed in making contact with the new American force.

The force of B-17s now flying in over the Dutch coast would have the protection of more than twice as many friendly fighters in its escort as had earlier helped the Regensburg force, although the critical range limitations remained. Eight squadrons of R.A.F. Spitfires met the B-17s at the coast and would remain in company until Antwerp was reached, just fifteen minutes or so of B-17 flying time. Two American fighter groups would then take over and carry on to Eupen, another twenty-five minutes distant. The eight R.A.F. squadrons which were now with the B-17s were provided by the North Weald, Hornchurch, Northolt and Kenley Wings and were all equipped with the Mark IX Spitfire, the most advanced at that time. These eight squadrons illustrate the truly ‘Allied’ nature of the R.A.F. at that time. There were two nominally British squadrons, although one of these, 222 Squadron, had two Frenchmen, two Czechs, a Rhodesian, a Canadian, a New Zealander and an American among the twelve pilots flying that day. The remaining squadrons were two Polish, two Canadian and two Norwegian. The four wing leaders came from Britain, New Zealand, Poland and Denmark. The Spitfire squadrons had flown from two forward airfields – Bradwell Bay in Essex and Manston in Kent – and had no difficulty in finding the B-17s, although they were very careful not to get too close to the American formations. Major Kaj Birksted, the Danish pilot leading the Norwegian wing, says, ‘You could pick the B-17s up twenty miles away on a good day like that one. They looked like a swarm of mosquitoes at first and then got larger as you closed up. But we were very wary of those American gunners. I always warned my pilots to keep out of machine-gun range.’ Flight Lieutenant Philip Tripe, a Canadian pilot, also remembers the meeting and pays this tribute.

To me, the high degree of disciplined formation flying by the B-17 units was simply incredible. The marshalling of such large formations and the precise timing, so necessary for such operations to ensure rendezvous with fighter aircraft at specific points en route, required a degree of skill in planning and execution which earned the respect of all fighter units which were associated with this type of operation. The Spitfires were short-range fighters compared to the American fighters and, as a result, did not have the same opportunity to observe the B-17 boys under heavy attack. On the few occasions I did witness German fighters attacking and in fact shooting down one or two B-17s, the disciplined flying of the remaining units in the bomber formation was outstanding.

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