יום שלישי 10/05 בשעה 21:30 קמפיין BIGWEEK משימה מס' 2

A LONG WAY FROM HOME

February 1944. The 8th Air force is building up to what will become known as Big Week
In preparation for the invasion of Europe, the Americans were tasked with destroying the factories and complexes producing fighters and told to also destroy the Luftwaffe in the air

However, the weapon that was the 8th Air force was still growing, and learning how to use that weapon still being developed

The principle bomber escort fighters, P47’s had only started to use pressurized auxiliary fuel tanks in September 43 P38’s had only arrived in England in October

The blind bombing radar H2X, enabling some kind of accuracy when bombing through solid cloud, was first used by pathfinders in November

The fighter that was to become the key to large daylight raids deep into Germany, the P51, had only just been introduced in December

The defensive armament of the bombers themselves was being developed, and the introduction of the B17-G, with extra forward facing guns in a chin turret, only happening in December also

The image shows a typical situation of this air war: the bombers of 381st BG, at an altitude of 20,000ft, with an air temperature of –32C, being attacked head on by a pair of Bf 109G’s of III/JG11
The attacks continued almost constantly from the Belgian border to the target and back

During this days hundreds of allied Bombers were lost under the defensive German reaction along as thousands of brave young airmen

Also Germans suffered high losses, especially considering more then hundred irreplaceable skilled fighter pilots
Anyway, may we suggest that, at this stage of the war, winning for Allies was certainly not yet a …done deal