23. A Hazardous Raid Without Fighter Protection
By the end of WWII, long-range American escort fighters such as P-38s, P-47, and especially P-51 Mustangs equipped with drop tanks, were able to accompany American bombers wherever they flew in Europe. In the summer of 1943, however, that had not yet come to be, and both Regensburg and Schweinfurt lay beyond the range of the Allied fighters that were available at the time. So the bombers sent against those targets could be escorted only part of the way before the fighters were forced to turn around and head back to Britain. From that point on, the bombers would have to continue on their own to their targets without protection from escorts.
The combined force for the twin missions was 376 Boeing B-17 “Flying Fortress” heavy bombers. Those sent against Schweinfurt would return to their bases in England after the raid. However, in order to further confuse the Germans, the Regensburg force would fly south after it dropped its bombs, continue on over the Alps, and cross the Mediterranean to land at Allied airbases in Algeria and Tunisia. There, after they refitted, refueled, and rearmed, the B-17 would return to England a few days later, and bomb targets in Nazi-occupied France on their way back.
