“I spotted two fighters explode maybe not much below, vanishing when you look at the sheet sets of lime flame, B-17s dropping call at most of the county out-of distress, out of engines ablaze to deal with surfaces take to out, amicable and you can opponent parachutes floating off and you will, to your eco-friendly carpet much below all of us, multiple funeral pyres off cig from fell routes, marking all of our path.”

The three battery packs out-of 88-mm weapons positioned in the target performed their very best so you can disrupt the fresh new bomb operates, nevertheless top bomb teams laid its designs of bombs accurately. Upcoming, as always happened while in the a giant assault on one address, dust and you will tobacco cigarette about explosions and you may fires blurred the latest setting-out products, and you can subsequent bombing was faster particular.

After bombing the goal, the B-17s proceeded south. One or two busted bombers leftover the formation and you will oriented having basic Switzerland. Eight significantly more damaged planes transpired on the road to Algeria.

Of your own 146 hefty bombers which had establish to own Regensburg, seven turned back, and 139 entered the brand new Dutch coast. Twenty-five of those have been lost.

New Schweinfurt raiding force, spanning 230 B-17s, released their assault later in the day. It as well sustained greatly regarding the German competitors and you may flak, losing 30-six bombers.

The second “new” firearm try the fresh 21-cm rocket, an excellent Italian language Army infantry weapon adjusted to own air-to-air have fun with

Therefore, of your own 376 B-17 Flying Fortresses one lay out out of The united kingdomt to help you bomb brand new a couple of important targets, sixty have been forgotten. Which was maybe not the last prices. In the event that Regensburg force gone back to The united kingdomt a week later, attacking a keen airfield close Bordeaux on your way, it absolutely was in the place of another 50-five routes, which was broken past quick repair, and around three a great deal more was indeed shed into the come back airline. For a while, the fresh new dual episodes and this towards the French airfield deprived 8th Sky Push out-of 118 bombers-almost one-third of your force the full time towards the August 17.

Even after bomber staff accounts on the other hand, their return fire don’t cause serious losings towards German competitors. New Luftwaffe forgotten simply twenty-7 fighters in the several great air fights.

In the days you to followed, the huge-scale introduction of two weapons brought about a formidable increase in this new firepower from Italian language home defense fighters. The original was new Mk. 108 canon, a 30-mm weapon that fired 11-ounce, high-explosive incendiary rounds at a rate in excess of 600 for every single minute; an average of, about three instance moves had been adequate to off a heavy bomber.

The new Bf-109s was indeed suitable having a 30-mm canon capturing through the propeller heart

Mounted from inside the a tube that also offered because launcher, the new 248-lb, spin-normalized firearm transmitted a 90-lb warhead effective sufficient to ruin people bomber in this thirty m of one’s area regarding detonation. The missile are big date-fuzed in order to explode in the a preset airline distance, although not, so the target’s diversity must be evaluated within this okay constraints prior to launch.

Such as well as the FW-190s was basically modified to take you to rocket launcher below each wing. An additional move to buttress the fresh combatant defenses, Destroyer Squadron twenty six was reformed due to the fact a house shelter product that have a moderate electricity out-of eighty “bomber-destroyers.” The unit’s solid dual-system Bf-110s and you will Me personally-410s escort service Linz carried an onward-shooting armament from four 20-mm cannon, one or two 31-mm cannon, and you can four 21-cm skyrocket launchers.

For action, the newest 21-cm rocket proved apparently inaccurate. It downed pair bombers, but it often damaged planes sufficiently to make him or her regarding formation making sure that almost every other competitors you are going to finish them off.

8th Sky Force’s big bombers resumed episodes with the Germany on September 6, 1943, when 338 Flying Fortresses set out getting Stuttgart. Italian language fighter forces once again responded intensely and you may effortlessly, and on it celebration the new raiders must take on bad climate. The main targets have been blanketed from the clouds, plus the routes bombed “objectives off chance” in route home. The fresh September six attack rates 40-four bombers.