Top Image: Close-up of a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber in flight, 1944-45. Gift of Peggy Wallace, 2010.308.082

Even though it was the Japanese who attacked the Americans at Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the official policy of the United States and its allies was to defeat Germany first. The problem was there was no easy way to hit Germany, as a cross-channel invasion of Europe was still years away. The British had been bombing from the air, but heavy losses forced them to switch to nighttime area bombing, greatly reducing its effectiveness. The Americans, on the other hand, were proponents of daylight, precision bombing using their state-of-the-art and top-secret Norden bomb-sight. They also believed they had an aircraft which could fight its way in and out of the target area, unescorted, and return home safely. That aircraft was the Boeing B-17, better known as the “Flying Fortress”.

In years following World War I, the United States was heavily influenced by Italian air-power theorist Giulio Douhet who called for heavy investment in a force of bombers to fly over the front-lines, destroy an enemy’s infrastructure, and break their will to fight. In theory, in the words of British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, the “bomber will always get through.” The Americans believed the B-17, with the Norden bomb sight, could be that bomber. It was a four engine, heavy bomber which first flew on July 28, 1935. It had a crew of ten and could carry 6,000 pounds of bombs at 300 miles per hour for a range of 2,000 miles. Its famous nickname came from the fact it carried 13 .50 caliber M2 Browning machine guns for protection, and had a legendary toughness for carrying its crew home on one engine or even with the tail shot away.

The first B-17 raid in Europe took place on August 17, 1942, when 12 planes attacked the railroad marshaling yards in Rouen, France. American bomber numbers continued to build in Europe and attacks (and losses) began to build up. While the US Fifteenth Air Force also had B-17s, the most famous group to fly them during the war was the US Eighth Air Force based out of England. B-17s flown by the Eighth saw some of the fiercest combat of the war.

As the Americans flew further into Europe and Germany, the missions became deadlier. One of the worst days of the war for the B-17 and its crewmen was the second raid on German ball bearing production in Schweinfurt, Germany on October 14, 1943. Losses were so heavy on the mission it became known as “Black Thursday." The B-17, for all its armor and firepower, was simply unable to continue to fly unescorted against swarms of German fighter aircraft and their sophisticated air defense system. Clearly, something had to be done because the bomber was not getting through.