<p>It was 17 August 1943, and Eighth Air Force was about to celebrate the first anniversary of its first bombing mission with a planned double strike. The selected targets were the ball-bearing factories at Schweinfurt, and the huge Messerschmitt complex at Regensburg, source of 200 Bf 109 fighters every month.
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<p>The plan involved precise timing, massive fighter escort support, diversionary sweeps, attacks against Luftwaffe bases along the route, and three B-17 task forces, totalling seven combat wings.
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<p>The 4th Bombardment Wing, commanded by the recently promoted Brigadier General LeMay, was to lead the attack. It had 146 B-17s available, which would draw the heaviest German opposition against their leading position, and so were assigned the larger force of escorts. Their target was the Messerschmitt factory. After bombing it, the wing was to continue south over the Alps and recover the aircraft at Telergma, about 100 miles (160 km) inland from Bone, on the Mediterranean coast of Algeria.
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<p>Brigadier General Robert B. Williams commanded the 1st Bombardment Wing, assigned to strike the bearing factories of Schweinfurt. They were to leave 10 minutes after LeMay's force, and were expected to find much less opposition. The Germans were expected to have tangled with the 4th BW and to be preoccupied with landing, refueling and rearming.
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<p>The escorting force included 18 squadrons of P-47s from VIII Fighter Command, and 16 squadrons of RAF Spitfires. Martin B-26 Marauders from the VIII Air Support Command were detailed to hit Luftwaffe bases at Bryas-Sud and Poix in France; their cover would be more RAF Spitfires. RAF Hawker Typhoon fighter-bombers were sent against Poix also, and against the bases at Lille-Vendeville and Woensdrecht. Two forces of RAF Mitchell (North American B-25) medium bombers, escorted by Spitfires, were to create diversions by striking railway marshalling yards at Calais and Dunkirk.
