{"id":70827,"date":"2017-03-13T12:00:12","date_gmt":"2017-03-13T16:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=70827"},"modified":"2017-03-13T11:44:46","modified_gmt":"2017-03-13T15:44:46","slug":"the-100th-bomber-group-world-war-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=70827","title":{"rendered":"The 100th Bomber Group – World War II"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week\u2019s movie is a video of the Bloody 100th<\/sup> Bomber Group from WWII, B-17 pilots and crews, flying their bombing missions starting in 1943, and continuing into March 1944, to destroy German factories and rail lines and shipyards, and\u00a0 at the end of the war, the bombing Berlin and Dresden.<\/p>\n

The B-17, also known as the Flying Fortress because of its armor and amraments, was as tough as the A-10 is now. At first, they flew missions with fighter planes that turned back at the European shoreline, but later, they were accompanied by US fighter planes and British Spitfires.Tough planes, tough crews, flying in unheated, nonpressurized planes, in cramped quarters that can only be politely termed sardine cans because they were packed to the walls with gunnery, ammo, instruments and armor, leaving barely enough room for the gunners to maneuver and shoot.<\/p>\n

The US Army Air Force alternated bombing missions with the RAF. The USAAF ran missions during the daytime while the Brits ran them at night. \u00a0The loss numbers during bombing missions were staggering, up to 90% of planes and crews, because of the Luftwaffe\u2019s attacks and flak fields. The missions ran 8 to 9 hours, minimum, in cabin temperatures of -40f to -60f.<\/p>\n

These guys and the Brits bombed Berlin into rubble, but that didn\u2019t end the war. They next went after Dresden, which was full of refugees fleeing the advancing Soviet troops on the eastern front.<\/p>\n

There is a brief shot toward the end of a Luftwaffe pilot bailing out of his damaged plane at 24,000 feet. Some Luftwaffe pilots were so desperate to stop the bombers that they rammed them as a last resort.<\/p>\n

It ended in March 1944, 73 years ago. Some of them got together for this video.<\/p>\n

It is 45 minutes of video, worth every minute of your time.<\/p>\n