The Schweinfurt Raid - 17th August 1943

For the men of the 381st it was the Schweinfurt raid that brought out the cold sweat of fear. The target was a vital ball-bearing target about 70 miles east of Frankfurt and set deep in southern Germany. Part of John Comer's (a Flight Engineer / Gunner) description of the raid from his book 'Combat Crew' gives an insight into the crews distress:

On route to the target, a layer of heavy clouds blocked the formations path. Colonel Gross, commanding the 1st division, made the decision to descend and fly under the cloud bank. The formation descended to 17,500 feet and plowed steadily on into German airspace. For a while we had an escort of R.A.F Spitfires, followed by P-47's but they had to return due to their limited fuel supplies. For 10 minutes after the escorting fighters left, nothing happened. Then the ball turret called out: "ball to crew-ball to crew! Fighters at eight o'clock low! Looks like about seventy of the devils!". They came rushing up to intercept us and before long the low group was surrounded by a swarm of snarling fighters. They appeared from all  directions and quickly showed their intention of a "give no quarter" battle. They just came in and kept on coming in. The German pilots were intense in their attacks and paid little attention to their usual cautious tactics. Attacks were from all angles during the run to the target, but the high nose attack seemed to predominate. At times it looked like the entire Luftwaffe was lined up at twelve o'clock high. The outcome was very much in doubt. The Jerries gave no thought to personal safety in their zeal to teach the Fortress crews a devastating lesson. Fighter losses were high but if ten of their planes went down in flames it seemed like twenty more came up to take their places. Every time two or three fighters were knocked down, a Fortress would go too. The plane flying on our left wing was hard hit, lost control and went down. I did not see what happened to the crew. A little later the plane on our right caught fire and exploded. For this kind of fight we had the right pilot. He flew like he had the controls of a fighter craft. He was throwing the ship up and down and from side to side in wild lunges, as the fighters roared in for the kill. The Germans were trying to finish off this squadron before exterminating the next one. There was no question but that we were extraordinary lucky. It was a combination of a wild pilot doing things not usually done in a formation and pure luck - whatever that is - that kept us from extinction. Evasive action helped, but I wondered what is was doing to the formation.

On 17th August three B-17 Wings, 1st & 3rd and 4th, were to attack two targets in a two-pronged strike. The 1st & 4th Bomb Wing would tackle Schweinfurt and return back to their home airfields, while the 3rd would raid Regensburg, flying on to North Africa. Both wings were due to leave at the same time but, due to bad weather, the 1st and 4th wing departed some 3 hours late. This delay proved to be fatal for so many crews of 1st Bomb Wing. The 381st was positioned in the very vulnerable low group of the leading formation with one of its squadrons in the high composite group. The whole formation was reckoned to be about 50 miles long, The leaders crossed the Dutch coast at 13.40 hours and soon the escorting Spitfires and P-47's would reach the extent of their range, roughly the Belgian/German border. The Luftwaffe fighters waited for the escorts to turn back before they made their attacks. They were ready and prepared in great numbers for the hapless 1st Bomb Wing, and what followed was a vicious, brutal and intense air battle. Some 4 hours later the shattered remnants of the Schweinfurt force limped back over the North Sea. Of the 230 aircraft that had left, 36 had been shot down. The 381st Bomb Group suffered the heaviest loss in the whole of 1st Wing. Of the 26 B-17's that had left Ridgewell eleven had been destroyed and twelve returned with battle damage. Over 100 airmen had been lost, with most ending up as prisoners of war. It was a disaster of high magnitude, not only for the Group but also for the Eighth Air Force, with its concept and belief in the self-defensive bomber formation being shattered.

  A baptism of fire

The United States Army Air Force ground personal of the 381st Bomb Group (Heavy), arrived at Ridgewell on 3rd June 1943, followed on the 15th by the group’s first B-17F Flying Fortresses. The Group had been activated in November 1942 and started training on 5th January at Pyote Air Base in Texas. The 381st, under the command of Colonel Joseph J. Nazzaro, was placed in the 1st Bomb Wing. Each aircraft carried Divisional identification codes, which were in the form of geometrical symbols on the vertical tails and upper right wings and within these symbols was the Group's identification letter; a triangle shape denoted the 1st Wing/Division and the letter 'L' for the 381st. In addition each squadron within the Group had a special code - VE, VP, GD and MS for 532 to 535 squadrons respectively.

There first mission, on 22nd June, was to the Ford and General Motors works at Antwerp. Three B-17's failed to return to Ridgewell. The next day when the aircraft were being prepared for a mission to Villacoublay, tragedy struck as one B-17 blew up, damaging another aircraft nearby and killing 22 airmen and one civilian. On the subsequent operation - to Glisy airfield near Amiens - one aircraft was lost in action and another collided with a FW190 but managed to return and crash-land at Manston.

On 24th July the Eighth Air Force 1st Group launched its first attack on a Norwegian targets - the large nitrate factory at Heroya. All of the aircraft arrived back safely from this long flight except one - Georgia Rebel from Ridgewell. This aircraft crash-landed at Vaannacka in neutral Sweden and the crew was interned. This was the first USAAF aircraft to make an emergency landing in neutral Sweden.

 The months of disappointment

Following the Schweinfurt raid, operations continued with many raids in Germany, Belgium and France, throughout August and September. In October in what became known as 'The Black Week', the 381st was engaged in four major operations - Bremen, Anklam, Munster and Schweinfurt. The mission to the Bremen shipyards on 8th proved to be a severe test of the crews' courage and determination. The Group lost seven of its eighteen B-17's to a strong force of enemy fighters with another 72 airmen lost in action, and for its performance on this day it was awarded its first Distinguished Unit Citation. The next day on the Anklam mission well over 200 enemy fighters opposed the Eighth's 115 B-17's and 18 failed to make it back to England, of which three came from Ridgewell. Unsurprisingly, only six aircraft were available for the Munster raid but all returned safely. Then on 14th the Eighth returned in strength to Schweinfurt - 291 aircraft - only to result in yet another 'blood bath' with 60 aircraft being shot down. All but one of the 17 B-17's landed back at the airfield, although twelve of them had sustained heavy damage.

On the 20th December 1943, the 381st, yet again, suffered the heaviest losses in the Division when the port area of Bremen was the target. The 1st Division lost 13 aircraft, of which four came from. Ridgewell. The Eighth launched a massive operation (722 aircraft) on Christmas Eve against the V1 rocket sites in the Pas de Calais without a single casualty - 22 sites were attacked and some 1,700 tons of high explosives were dropped. Soon the Pas de Calais would become known to the crews as 'the rocket coast' as rumours quickly circulated about Hitler's new secret weapon.

January 1944 saw the Eighth Air Force suffer another sharp and severe setback when a total of 42 aircraft were shot down and another five 'written off' whilst attacking aircraft factories at Oschersleben and Halberstadt. The 381st was part of a 177 strong force directed at the Focke Wulf plant in Oschersleben saw the Luftwaffe mount its strongest opposition since the Schweinfurt operation back in October, with the result that eight B-17s failed to return to Ridgewell. All of the Division's Groups were awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation for their part in the operation. Unfortunately Colonel Nazzaro had left Ridgewell just two days before the Group gained their second coveted DUC. His successor, Colonel Harry P. Leber Jr., led the 381st for the next thirteen months.

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  Turning the tide

The 381st again paid heavily for another strike at the German aircraft industry when on 22nd February six aircraft were lost over Oschersleben. In March a successful mission to Berlin occurred when the 1st Division Groups battled their way to the Erkner ball-bearing plant. The fighter opposition was intense with an estimated 300 Luftwaffe fighters in action. The 381st was in the leading formation and lost three aircraft, one of which was Linda Mary, which was the last of the original B-17s to have come over from the States with the 381st. During its time at Ridgewell the Group bombed the German capital on 16 occasions losing just 19 aircraft in the process. Their most costly mission was on 24th May when six aircraft were lost out of a total of 33 destroyed. Even at this stage of the war the Eighth were still suffering heavy casualties - nearly 490 airmen were missing on this single mission - but despite the fact that the loss rate was 5.3%, it was still considered 'acceptable'!

Most of the Eighth's Bomb Groups could boast of 'long-serving' aircraft and the 381st was no exception, having several rugged B-17s that had managed to complete over 100 combat missions despite the Eighth's heavy losses. One of the two most famous aircraft at Ridgewell was Rotherhithe's Revenge, which ultimately completed 122 missions. The aircraft had been purchased by contributions from the people of Bermondsey. The other B-17 was called Stage Door Canteen, which completed 105 missions. It had been formally named by Mary Churchill, the Prime Minister's daughter, who was accompanied by several famous British film stars, such as Vivien Leigh, Anna Neagle, Jean Kent and Phyllis Calvert. Indeed Ridgewell was a popular Eighth Air Force base for visiting celebrities, perhaps because it was relatively close to London.

When the Eighth Air Force returned to German targets after D-Day the 381st lost three aircraft over Berlin on 21st June but then proceeded to mount missions to oil targets and aircraft factories as well as air strikes in support of the Allied armies notably at Caen. All these missions were conducted with the minimum of losses, the crews achieving an amazingly low casualty rate and often returning intact or with just a single aircraft missing. What a change from the days of late 1943, and the chances of the crews now completing a tour of operations - 35 missions - were greatly enhanced.

During Christmas 1944 Ridgewell became rather crowded with almost 80 additional B-17s spread around the airfield. They had been unable to make it back to their home bases in the east Midlands because of fog. It was not until 3rd February that the Group lost its first aircraft in 1945. Berlin was again the crews' downfall and two aircraft were lost whilst attacking the Templehof railway works (where No 90 squadron had been active two years earlier). The last aircraft to be lost to enemy action fell on 8th April over oil targets at Derben. Sadly, just before the war ended a B-17 taking airmen for a leave break in Northern Ireland crashed on the Isle of Man, killing 30 airmen.

The Group's 296th and final mission went out from Ridgewell on 25th April to the Skoda motor works at Pilsen in Czechoslovakia. It had been a long and costly war for the 381st - 131 aircraft missing in action. Within a month the majority of the aircraft had left the airfield, and they were followed by the ground personnel in mid-June.

In August 1982, a group of 381st veterans made an emotional return to Ridgewell for the dedication of the splendid memorial erected on the site of the station's sick quarters. They were led by Colonel Dexter Lishon of 535th squadron, one of the original members of the Group, who as a Captain had been shot down in October 1943 over Bremen.

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