August 17, 1943, 13th victory
Archives and notes on my searches concerning this date

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COMBAT CHRONOLOGY OF THE US ARMY AIR FORCES

TUESDAY, 17 AUGUST 1943
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force)

Mission 84 :

2. 146 B-17's are dispatched to Regensburg; 127 hit the target at 11.48-12.07 hours;
they claim 140-19-36 Luftwaffe aircraft;
24 B-17's are lost, 1 is damaged beyond repair and 50 are damaged;
casualties are 4 KIA, 9 WIA and 200 MIA; every important building in the complex is damaged;
the surviving aircraft continue on to bases in North Africa.

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B-17 dispatched to Regensburg and declared lost on August 17, 1943 (current result of my works) :

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Source : Book "The B-17 Flying Fortress Story"

serial number	plane type / name	squadron	code	reason	mission lost on	pilot / crew
42-3194	Boeing B-17F-35-DL "Little Hell"	95 BG 334 BS	BG-A	On returning of the mission, and damaged by flak , aircraft exploded	Regensburg Crash Location Santa Margherita (It)	Hayden, 4 KIA, 6POW, MACR 400
42-3232	Boeing B-17F-40-DL "Flak Happy"	100 BG 350 BS	LN-?	fighter	Regensburg Crash Location Ghedi (Ita)	Ronald Hollenbeck P John Williams CP 1EVD, 2KIA, 7POW, MACR 676
42-3305	Boeing B-17F-45-DL "Fertile Myrtle"	390 BG 568 BS	BI-E	fighter	Regensburg Crash Location Hyeres (Fra)	Shaver, 1EVD, 9POW, MACR 392
42-3310	Boeing B-17F-45-DL "Blood, Guts and Rust"	390 BG 568 BS	?	flak	Regensburg Crash Location Mediterannean Sea	Sneed, 10RTD, MACR 396
42-3333	Boeing B-17F-45-DL "Purgatory Pete"	390 BG 569 BS	CC-O	fighter	Regensburg Crash Location Mediterannean Sea	Becker, 3KIA, 7POW, MACR 389
42-3414	Boeing B-17F-DL "Paddlefoot"	388 BG 561 BS	?	no gas	Regensburg Crash Location Mediterannean Sea	Parker, 10RTD
42-5860	Boeing B-17F-30-VE "Escape kit"	100 BG 418 BS	LD-?	fighter	Regensburg Crash Location Schweinsberg	Charles Biddick P Richard Snyder CP 4KIA, 6POW, MACR 675
42-5867	Boeing B-17F-30-VE "Alice From Dallas"	100 BG 350 BS	LN-O	flak	Regensburg Crash Location Langerloo Wangerooge (Hol)	Roy Clayton P Raymond Nutting CP 5EVD, 2KIA, 3POW, MACR 678
42-5892	Boeing B-17F-VE "Pregnant Portia"	385 BG 551 BS	?	?	Regensburg Crash Location ?	Keeley, 10RTD
42-5914	Boeing B-17F-35-VE "Sack Time (Roger Wilco)"	385 BG 549 BS	?	fighter	Regensburg Crash Location Darmstadt	Reichardt, 10POW, MACR 387B

42-30002	Boeing B-17F-80-BO "The WAAC Hunter"	100 BG 349 BS	XR-?	fighter	Regensburg Crash Location Roxheim	Henri Shotland P Charles Thompson CP 1KIA, 9POW, MACR 680
42-30017	Boeing B-17F-80-BO "All Shot to Hell"	390 BG 568 BS	?	fighter	Regensburg Crash Location Bingen	Tyson, 10POW, MACR 388
42-30042	Boeing B-17F-85-BO "Oh Nausea"	100 BG 349 BS	XR-?	Pb mec	Regensburg Crash Location Mediterannean Sea	Glen Van Noy P James Evans CP 10POW, MACR 682
42-30063	Boeing B-17F-85-BO "Picklepuss"	100 BG 418 BS	LD-?	fighter	Regensburg Point de chute Schmalgraf	Robert Knox P John Whitaker CP 6KIA 4POW, MACR 677
42-30070	Boeing B-17F-85-BO "Tweedle O-Twill"	100 BG 350 BS	EP-?	flak	Regensburg Crash Location Pfullingen	Ronald Braley P Walter Trenchard CP 1KIA, 9POW, MACR 679
42-30080	Boeing B-17F-85-BO "High Life (Peg O' my Heart)"	100 BG 351 BS	EP-F	fighter	Regensburg Crash Location Dubendorf (Sui)	Donald Oakes P Joseph Harper CP 1INT, MACR 683
42-30176	Boeing B-17F-90-BO "Assassin"	95 BG 335 BS	OE-P	at 10.30 hours, 60 miles northeast of Antwerp aircraft came under fighter attack	Regensburg Crash Location Oostmalle (Bel)	Sundberg, 4EVD, 1KIA, 5POW, MACR 401
42-30274	Boeing B-17F-95-BO "Our Bay-Bee"	95 BG 334 BS	BG-Q	prior to target aircraft left formation and exploded	Regensburg Crash Location Mol (Bel)	Baker, 3EVD, 7POW, MACR 402
42-30283	Boeing B-17F-95-BO "Mason's Morons"	95 BG 334 BS	BG-B	near Frankfurt, with #2 engine feathered , aircraft let the formation under control	Regensburg Crash Location Darmstadt	Mason, 10POW, MACR 403
42-30311	Boeing B-17F-95-BO	100 BG 350 BS	LN-?	fighter	Regensburg Crash Location Schorsheim	Thomas Hummel P Michael Doroski CP 2KIA, 8POW, MACR 681

42-30314	Boeing B-17F-95-BO "Beautiful Baby"	301 BG 353 BS	?	fighter	Istres le Tube	Cunningham, 7KIA, 3RTD, MACR 407
42-30315	Boeing B-17F-95-BO "Battle Queen 'Peg of my Heart'"	390 BG 569 BS	CC-S	flak	Regensburg Crash Location Utzendorf (Sui)	Rapport, 10INT, MACR 391
42-30316	Boeing B-17F-95-BO	390 BG 568 BS	?	?	Regensburg	MACR 390
42-30388	Boeing B-17F-BO "Sunny Boy"	2 BG 249 BS	FR-X	?	Istres le Tube	Fisher, ?, MACR 406
42-30389	Boeing B-17F-100-BO "Dear Mom"	94 BG 331 BS	QE-Z	fighter	Regensburg Crash Location Lummen (Bel)	Nayovitz, 2EVD, 6KIA, 2POW, MACR 323
42-30453	Boeing B-17F-BO "Thunderbird"	94 BG 333 BS	TS-K	flak	Regensburg Crash Location Saverne (Fra)	Davison, 3EVD, 1KIA, 6POW, MACR 831

Special Thanks to Helynn Schufletowski for 95BG datas

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Elements to direct searches :

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Source : Table of 390th Bomb Group (H) Missions

Target Area	Date	Target	Lead Crew	Command Pilot	B-17s Lost
Regensburg	17-Aug-43	Aircraft Plant	Lt. R. Brown	Col. Wittan	4

Mission #3 - Regensburg, Germany
17 August 1943

For this mission the 390th Bomb Group received a Presidential Citation
Of the 301 missions flown, the 390th Bomb Group had three that stood out above the rest. Regensburg, Munster, and Schweinfurt became sagas in the Air Force. On all three missions units were awarded Presidential Citations, and the 390th shared in two of them.
Regensburg and its African aftermath was the first of the "Big Three."

Its story is told in two teletypes:
"Regensburg is the most important target to be attacked by any aircraft to date. The production is estimated at 200 ME-109 aircraft per month, or approximately 25 to 30 percent of Germany's entire single engine production. There had been a remarkable increase in production within the last year of this particular type aircraft. There has been an increase of 120 percent as compared to 2 percent for other types of single engine fighters. "
This plant is the second largest of its kind in Europe, the largest being at Wiener Neustadt, which was attacked by the Ninth Air Force on 14 August, and it is estimated that 72 percent of the increase which has occurred in operational strength on the western front has been derived from this plant alone.
"It is estimated that the complete destruction of the plant will entail a nine months' delay in production and that immediate results will be felt in operational strength within one and a half to two months."

The second teletype came from Colonel Curtis LeMay, the air leader of the mission, and the man who was later to head the B-29 force in the Mariana Islands. It came the following day from North Africa.
"Mission flown as planned. Fighter support poor. Wing under constant attack from Antwerp to thirty minutes after leaving target. Objective believed to be totally destroyed. Detailed report impossible at this time. Airplanes have landed at a number of fields other than those scheduled due to battle damage and gas shortage."

Between those teletypes passed a drama that was never exceeded in Air Force annals. It was the first attempt at a shuttle mission, it was the deepest penetration to date and, together with the diversion to Schweinfurt, was a bid to the Luftwaffe to fight it out plane for plane.
Exactly 146 planes left England 17 August 1943. Of this number 127 attacked the target and 24 were lost.
The 390th dispatched 20 aircraft. There was a delay in assembling the formation over England, and gallons of precious fuel were wasted. Soon after passing the European coast, an alerted German Air Force arose to battle. The group was under steady attack nearly to the Alps, meeting upward of 100 planes. They attacked from all angles, usually coming out of the sun, and using decoys on the opposite side of the main attack to make their tactics more effective. When our crews were over the Regensburg factory they reported that newly assembled planes took off, not to engage in combat, but to distract B-17 gunners.
Two planes were lost in the target area. A third had two engines knocked out and landed safely in Switzerland, where the crew was interned. A fourth plane, in trouble and out of gas, headed for Spain. It landed near Toulons, France, and the crew was made prisoner. Two other planes ran out of gas, and ditched in the Mediterranean Sea. The crews were picked up by Air-Sea Rescue Service.
It was a battered Group that collected at Telergma, in North Africa. Camping on the desert under the wings of their planes, eating nothing but K rations, bartering with stealthy Arabs - the week in Africa was unlike life in England. To the crews, the hell through which they had hacked their way was soon lost in the realization of what they had accomplished. They had destroyed 13 planes, probably destroyed 3 more, and damaged 9 others.
The 390th bombing was excellent. As third Group in the formation over the target, 58 percent of the 390th bombs were in a thousand feet of the aiming point and 94 percent within two thousand feet.

General Anderson of Bomber Command put it this way, "Congratulations on the completion of an epoch I aerial warfare. I am sure the 4th Bombardment Wing will continue to make history. The Hun now has no place to hide."

Copyright © 1997 by The 390th Memorial Museum Foundation

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Source : United States 8th Army Air Force, WWII Welcome to the 96th Bombardment Group(H)

96th BG Notable Missions: 17/08/1943 Lead Regensburg - Germany to North Africa Shuttle

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Description of this victory by Heinz Knoke and different information :

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	Heinz Knoke Informations	Personal comments
Source	I flew for the f... page 110
Date	August 17, 1943
Type of claimed plane	Fortress
Place of the interception	Eiffel Mountains
Detail 1	5. / JG11 is transferred, to anticipate attacks of heavy Americans bombers, at first towards Rheine 120 miles in the South of Jever. Then they take off again to land to Gilze Rijn in Holland at 11.15.	Mission on Regensburg made its bombardment from 11.48 till 12.07. 5. / JG11 took off only after 13.15. B-17s having participated in the mission on Regensburg were not attacked by Knoke'unit and should be ignored.
Detail 4	During the second mission at 22 000 feet Knoke joins by the rear a formation estimated at 250 bombers.	The number of 250 is closer to 188 aircrafts on way home having bombarded Schweinfurt, much more plausible than the 127 which touched Regensburg then have put the cap on Africa.

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