At that time, and in conjunction with the Pointblank Directive to destroy the Luftwaffe in preparation for Operation Overlord, the B-17 force had expanded fourfold and was organized into the 1st and 3rd Bombardment Wings, which due to their large size were soon re-designated Bomb Divisions.

[8][9][10] The 3rd Bombardment Wing, using B-17s equipped with "Tokyo (fuel) tanks" for longer range, would attack the Messerschmitt Bf 109 plants in Regensburg and then fly on to bases in Bône, Berteaux and Telergma (French Algeria).

[11] The 1st Bombardment Wing, following it, would turn northeast and bomb the ball-bearing factories of Schweinfurt, where almost the entire production of bearings was centralized, and by doing so catch German fighter aircraft on the ground re-arming and refueling.

Because of limited range thanks to inexplicably not employing drop tanks,[12] escorting P-47 Thunderbolt fighters would be able to protect the bombers only as far as Eupen, Belgium, which was roughly an hour's flying time from both of the targets.

Donald Miller states: "LeMay's force was expected to take the brunt of the German counteroffensive, allowing the Schweinfurt armada to proceed to the target with only light resistance.

With LeMay escaping over the Alps, the Schweinfurt force would be left to face the full fury of the Luftwaffe on its return to England.

"[9] Eighth Air Force bomber operations were calculated with one to two hours of climb and assembly into formations factored into mission lengths.

The mission takeoff was delayed until 08:00, when the fog had cleared sufficiently over East Anglia to allow the 4th Bombardment Wing to take off using instruments, a technique they had practiced.

Although attacking both targets simultaneously was deemed critical to success of the mission without prohibitive loss, the Regensburg force was ordered to take off, even though the 1st Bombardment Wing remained grounded at its bases by the adverse weather.

Approximately fifteen minutes after it crossed the coast at 10:00, the Regensburg force encountered the first German fighter interception, which continued with growing intensity nearly all the way to the target area.

The arrangement of two groups instead of three in the two following provisional wings meant a third fewer guns available to each for their mutual defense and made them more likely targets.

Both P-47 groups were forced to turn back to base after only fifteen minutes of escort duty, without engaging any German interceptors.

anti-aircraft fire ("flak") was light over Regensburg and visibility clear, and of the remaining 131 bombers, 126 dropped 298.75 tons of bombs on the fighter aircraft factories with a high degree of accuracy at 11:43 British time.

Two damaged B-17s turned away from the Regensburg task force and landed in neutral Switzerland, where their crews were interned and the bombers confiscated.

Williams personally led the mission, flying as co-pilot in an aircraft of the lead formation, as wingman to the commander of the 91st Bomb Group.

[citation needed] The field order for the mission specified that the B-17s would fly at altitudes between 23,000 and 26,500 feet (7,000–8,000 m), but approaching the coast of the Netherlands at 13:30, it was confronted with developing cloud masses not present earlier in the day.

However, 15 miles from Schweinfurt, the opposing fighters, after shooting down 22 bombers, disengaged and landed to refuel and re-arm in order to attack the force on its way out.

Five miles from Schweinfurt, German anti-aircraft guns began firing an effective flak barrage into the path of the bomber force.

[18] At 14:57 approximately 40 B-17s remained of the lead wing, when it dropped its bombs on the target area containing five factories and 30,000 workers, followed over a 24-minute span by the remainder of the force.

Fifteen minutes after leaving the target, each task force circled over the town of Meiningen to reassemble its formations, then continued west toward Brussels.

[1][2][3] In Regensburg, all six main workshops of the Messerschmitt factory were destroyed or severely damaged, as were many supporting structures including the final assembly shop.

[27] All the factories except Kugelfischer had extensive fire damage to machinery when incendiaries ignited the machine oil used in the manufacturing process.