Black Thursday

319 Pages·2015·5.82 MB·English

by  Caidin

This edition is published by PICKLE PARTNERS PUBLISHING—
www.picklepartnerspublishing.com To join our mailing list for new titles or for issues with our books
– [email protected] Or on Facebook

Text originally published in 1960 under the same title.
© Pickle Partners Publishing 2014, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the
written permission of the copyright holder.
Publisher’s Note
Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author
and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.
We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of
including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.
BLACK THURSDAY
by
MARTIN CAIDIN
DRAWINGS BY FRED L. WOLFF
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DEDICATION
ILLUSTRATIONS
PHOTOGRAPHS
DRAWINGS
MAPS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
FOREWORD
PROLOGUE
PART I — BACKGROUND TO THE MISSION
Chapter I — BOLERO, SICKLE, CBO
Chapter II — SCHWEINFURT
Importance of Bearings to the Economy
Concentration of Industry
Recovery Difficulties
Chapter III — THE LUFTWAFFE
PART II — THE MISSION BEGINS
Chapter IV — FIRST MOTION
Chapter V — NOTES SELECTED AT RANDOM
Chapter VI — THE BRIEFINGS
Chapter VII — “A BRIGHT GREEN FLARE.”
Chapter VIII — AIRBORNE
Chapter IX — “YOU WORK UP THERE…”
Chapter X — FIRST BLOOD
PART III — ATTACK
Chapter XI — LINE PLUNGE THROUGH CENTER
Chapter XII — THE UNNAMED
Chapter XIII — A QUEEN DIES HARD
Chapter XIV — SCHWEINFURT BELOW
Chapter XV — HOW THE GERMANS FOUGHT
Chapter XVI — TIME HACK
Chapter XVII — THE TRAIN TRAVELER
Chapter XVIII — THE FORTS COME HOME
PART IV —THE SUMMING UP
Chapter XIX — THE BOMBING: EVALUATION
Chapter XX — IN THIS WE FAILED
EPILOGUE
REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER
APPENDIX
MAPS
DEDICATION
In Memory of
KEITH M, GARRISON
Lieutenant Colonel, USAF, whose third combat mission was Number 115,
Schweinfurt, 14 October 1943.
Died 1 February 1960 in the crash of his B-52 bomber.
ILLUSTRATIONS
PHOTOGRAPHS
B-17 Flying Fortresses moving into Germany
The silent enemy—fog
Extremely rare flying phenomenon: B-17’s with three separate contrails —
from engines, propeller tips, and wingtips B-17 Bombers of 381st Bomb Group,
VIII Bomber Command Armada into German skies Colonel Budd J. Peaslee,
U.S.A.A.F., who led the raid against Schweinfurt, October 14, 1943
Fortresses swinging onto final bomb run for Schweinfurt En route to target:
Me-110 fighter attacking Schweinfurt below: bombs exploding on Kugelfìscher
ball bearing plant and on VKF-1
Final B-17’s pass by Schweinfurt. City and factories are burning
Fortresses of the 100th Bomb Group found much of target area obscured by
bomb explosions, flame from burning factories Its left wing torn off in flames, a
burning Fortress goes down over Germany Fortresses over Schweinfurt, October
14, 1943
The crews come home
Some of the men had to be carried out of the battered Fortresses Returning
bombers were mangled, chewed up by cannon shells, rockets Badly wounded
gunner is rushed from stretcher to ambulance Two men in the nose killed
instantly, power lines ruptured, plexiglas blown away, nose and engines riddled
—but she came home She brought home her ten men Colonel H. M. Mason, 1st
Wing Engineering Officer, performed miracles patching together crippled B-
17’s Captured German photos of B-17 crew members shot down, killed in the
crash of their Fortress Kugelfischer works after the raid The city of Schweinfurt
After the great raid, the bombers had to come back again and again
DRAWINGS
Messerschmitt Me-110
Messerschmitt Me-109G
Some ships never made the mission. “Something” went wrong with a bomb
Last check of tail turret before take-off B-17G, crew positions
Emergency landing; six men got out Taxiing out…
“Take off! Take off!”
Combat box, staggered formation, side view Combat box, staggered
formation, head-on view “Little friend”—Thunderbolt escort fighter Focke-Wulf
FW-190
“We didn’t see any chutes…!
Into German skies...
Mangled, torn, shot to pieces, the Forts came home Queen of the bombers…
B-17F Flying Fortress Bomb release
Junkers Ju-88 modified for killer missions Messerschmitt Me-110, twin-
engine fighter mainstay “Me-210 diving away from three o’clock…”
Top turret, B-17 bomber
“Me-109G, last seen burning, diving away. Damaged.”
“One FW-190. Confirmed destroyed.”
MAPS
Mission 115, up to 1440 hours
Mission 115, from 1440 to 1630 hours
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am deeply grateful to Colonel Budd J. Peaslee, United States Air Force,
Retired, who spared no effort to assist me in the task of bringing this epochal air
battle back to life. As the air commander of Mission 115, the daylight bombing
attack on Schweinfurt, Germany, on October 14, 1943, Colonel Peaslee’s
contribution is unique. Both as a fighting man and as an observer, he is rich in
emotion, courage, and understanding. Without his unselfish assistance and
suggestions and kind permission to study and quote from the manuscript of his
recollections of the attack, this book would not have been possible. As with any
such project, of course, many other people have also contributed greatly to it.
My sincere thanks to Beime Lay, Jr., formerly Lieutenant Colonel, U.S.A.A.F., a
great combat pilot and a gifted writer of the air. The staff of the Research Studies
Institute, Air University, United States Air Force, have also spared no pains in
their close cooperation; among them I wish to extend my thanks particularly to
Margaret Kennedy and to Colonel Laurence Macauley, U.S.A.F. I am no less
grateful for the aid of Dr. Albert F. Simpson, chief, U.S.A.F. Historical Division,
who has brought to the documentation of the history of air warfare remarkable
skill and knowledge of the subject.
For many hours spent in the air with him, in airplanes small and large, and for
his patience and skill as a teacher, my thanks to the late Lieutenant Colonel
Keith M. Garrison, U.S.A.F. Keith Garrison was in a B-17 on Mission 115; the
machine in which he flew his last mission, seventeen years later, was the mighty
B-52 of the Strategic Air Command. I am grateful for the ready assistance and
suggestions of Carl B. McCamish and of H. M. Mason, Jr., who have always
supported and aided my projects. Major Raymond Houseman over the last
several years has kept up his own private project to accumulate material for this
book, and I owe much to him for his efforts. These acknowledgments would be
far from complete if they did not express, finally, my gratitude to Major James
F. Sunderman, U.S.A.F., who has worked for many years with me on airpower