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Target Schweinfurt

The Eighth Air Force's Darkest Days

Target Schweinfurt cover

Target Schweinfurt

The Eighth Air Force's Darkest Days

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Pre-order. Available Mar 04 2027
$22.40

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Description

A vivid account of the US Eighth Air Force's raid on Schweinfurt in October 1943, their most difficult and costliest mission of World War II.

Based on the first-hand accounts of those who survived, renowned aviation historian Tom Cleaver tells the story of the Eighth Air Force's Mission 115, when 291 bombers were sent to Schweinfurt to destroy the ball bearing factories on which the Wehrmacht depended.

In the face of an unrelenting German anti-aircraft defence, the mission became a bitter fight as the B-17 bomber crews of the Eighth found themselves under attack from nearly every Luftwaffe fighter unit in Western Europe. Sixty B-17s were lost and 600 men died or became prisoners of war. October 14, known forever after as “Black Thursday,” the day the Luftwaffe won.

This dramatic narrative takes us through the build-up to the mission before focussing on the desperate struggle for survival in the skies above Germany. The raid was to have profound implications as the Luftwaffe regained air superiority over Germany and the US Air Force conducted no more missions until long-range fighter escorts were available. A new air war had begun.

Accessibility Information

Additional accessibility information

  • EPUB 3.0
  • Conforms with the requirements of EPUB Accessibility Spec v1.1
  • WCAG level AA
  • WCAG v2.2 compliant

Hazards

The publication contains no hazards

Support for non-visual reading

  • No accessibility features offered by the reading system, device or reading software are disabled or otherwise unusable with the product
  • Has alternative text descriptions for images

Visual adjustments

Appearance of the text and page layout can be modified according to the capabilities of the reading system (font family and size, spaces, as well as color of background and text)

Navigation

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  • Purposes of all links are made clear

Table of Contents

(Subject to confirmation)

Introduction
Chapter 1: Eighth Air Force Must Perform!
Chapter 2: Eaker's Offensive
Chapter 3: Planning Mission 115
Chapter 4: Plan of Attack
Chapter 5: The Jagdwaffe
Chapter 6: Takeoff
Chapter 7: Into Germany
Chapter 8: Twelve O'Clock High!
Chapter 9: Over the Target
Chapter 10: The Return
Chapter 11: Recovery From Defeat
Bibliography
Index

Product details

Published Mar 04 2027
Format Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
Edition 1st
Pages 320
ISBN 9781472878441
Imprint Osprey Publishing
Illustrations 8 pages of black and white illustrations
Series General Aviation
Short code GNA
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Thomas McKelvey Cleaver

Thomas McKelvey Cleaver has been a published write…

Resources

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