April 17th 05, 07:36 PM
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On Sat, 16 Apr 2005 07:39:35 -0500, wrote:
During World War Two,U.S.A.lost over four hundred and
fifty U.S.Army Air Force Soldiers bombing a ball bearing factory in
Schweinfurt,Germany and another smaller ball bearing factory in
Germany.
I suspect you are talking about the Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission of
17th August 1943.
Regensburg was the home of Bayerisch Flugzeugwerke, where the Bf (or
Me) 109 fighter was produced.
Schweinfurt was the location of three ball-bearing factories, KGF, and
VKF 1 and 2. The latter were Swedish-owned.
142 long-range B-17s took off for Regensburg, 122 bombed their primary
target; 24 aircraft were reported missing.
230 B-17s not fitted with the long-range tanks took off for
Schweinfurt, 184 bombed their primary target; 36 were reported
missing.
From the Regensburg group, 34 were killed, 133 taken prisoner, 13
evaded capture, 20 were interned, and 40 rescued from the sea.
From the Schweinfurt group, 68 were killed, 248 taken prisoner, 25
evaded capture, none were interned, and 60 rescued from the sea.
The Regensburg force flew from airfields at Bury St Edmunds, Horham,
Thorpe Abbots, Great Ashfield, Knettishall, and Framlingham. The
Schweinfurt force flew from Bassingbourn, Alconbury, Chelveston,
Thurleigh, Polebrook, Kimbolton, Ridgewell, and Grafton Underwood.
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