Schweinfurt
On the "My Prayer" fallow fires out and the entire crew, with exception of the pilot, the copilot and upper protecting, whose parachute was too strongly burned, bailed out. It succeeded to protecting despite a charge shrapnel in the leg to get the fire under control. Subsequently, he took over the front gun turret. Together with the copilot in the trunk center it repelled the enemy airplanes, until they were nearly on house height and flew in this height the whole way back to their base. The copilot began, everything that it find could and which not straight was bolted on, eject. When he came to a pair of shoes and straight wanted to throw it over board, he saw a Belgian, who signed enthusiastically on a field. It tied the tying lacings together carefully and threw to it the shoes! With the last drop fuel and without navigator succeeded it to the pilot to surely bring back the "My Prayer" to a RAF base in the south of England.
After the war diary of the VIII Bomber Command the first year of the combat missions was in Europe a full success. The results speak however another language. A navigator, who had enjoyed on the outward flight still about the silvery shining airplanes, tells: "I remember, as I down-looked and numerous, irregularly arising, yellow-orange fires at the soil to blaze saw. I understood first not - so silly I was. Here no cities could not burn and a heap of hay result in a fire, which one can recognize from 4 miles distance... Suddenly it dawned me. Were louder shot B-17, burned at the soil there...
Over Germany, Holland and Belgium completely extended this terrible picture of burning airplanes. Europe seemed to me paved with our dead ones... Over the channel coast we saw then, like a gift of the sky, roar-end Thunderbolts. My clock showed 4,59 hours pm. The in the afternoon sun shone warmly by the left window front in here, and I removed my heavy ball waistcoat." On this distance the navigator had little work. The whole way, back and forth, the pilot needed to follow only the trace of burning airplanes.
A terrible mission. Hopefully it had contributed really to shorten the war.
With this attack on Schweinfurt 59 Flying Fortresses were shot down and to 100 heavily damaged, 25 German fighters went lost. The anniversary attack became so far the heaviest defeat of US - Air Force in Europe: Each 5. Crew member found death in this attack.