<text id=00he0612><title>The Bombers' First Raid</title>
<history>US Air Force: Events History</history>
<article><hdr>The Bombers' First Raid</hdr><body>
<p>The lead aircraft was piloted by Colonel Frank A. Armstrong, Jr, group commander of the 97th. In the pilot's seat of the lead ship, second flight, was Brigadier General Ira C. Eaker, commanding VIII Bomber Command. His B-17E was named 'Yankee Doodle'.
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<p>They lifted off the runway at Grafton Underwood beginning at 3:12 pm, formed up and flew to rendezvous with four Spitfire IX squadrons from the RAF, who escorted them to the target. The B-17s dropped about 37,000 lb (16783 kg) of bombs, half of which landed within the target area specified. They returned safely with no losses for the mission, covered on the flight home by five Spitfire IX squadrons again from the RAF, and landed just after 7:00 pm.
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<p>The value of the raid was in its demonstration of a principle: high-altitude precision bombing. Fortunately, the bombing accuracy was high on that first strike, and there were no desperate Luftwaffe pilots making daring attacks to break the formation and pick off individual airplanes.
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<p>Historians who have written about World War II's vast panorama have called 1942 the year when the tide turned, but it did not turn in the skies over Europe or the Pacific that year. With the first B-17 raid out of the way, the demands for units to support Torch increased, and there were serious doubts raised at 8AF about its abilities to wage any kind of an effective air war. Nonetheless, the Rouen-Scotteville raid did mark a turning point.
