Target Schweinfurt (The Eighth Air Force's Darkest Days)
| Expected release date is Mar 2nd 2027 |
- Availability: Confirm prior to ordering
- Branding: minimum 50 pieces (add’l costs below)
- Check Freight Rates (branded products only)
Branding Options (v), Availability & Lead Times
- 1-Color Imprint: $2.00 ea.
- Promo-Page Insert: $2.50 ea. (full-color printed, single-sided page)
- Belly-Band Wrap: $2.50 ea. (full-color printed)
- Set-Up Charge: $45 per decoration
- Availability: Product availability changes daily, so please confirm your quantity is available prior to placing an order.
- Branded Products: allow 10 business days from proof approval for production. Branding options may be limited or unavailable based on product design or cover artwork.
- Unbranded Products: allow 3-5 business days for shipping. All Unbranded items receive FREE ground shipping in the US. Inquire for international shipping.
- RETURNS/CANCELLATIONS: All orders, branded or unbranded, are NON-CANCELLABLE and NON-RETURNABLE once a purchase order has been received.
Product Details
Overview
A vivid account of the US Eighth Air Force's raid on Schweinfurt in October 1943, their most difficult and costliest mission of World War II.
Based on the first-hand accounts of those who survived, renowned aviation historian Tom Cleaver tells the story of the Eighth Air Force's Mission 115, when 291 bombers were sent to Schweinfurt to destroy the ball bearing factories on which the Wehrmacht depended.
In the face of an unrelenting German anti-aircraft defence, the mission became a bitter fight as the B-17 bomber crews of the Eighth found themselves under attack from nearly every Luftwaffe fighter unit in Western Europe. Sixty B-17s were lost and 600 men died or became prisoners of war. October 14, known forever after as “Black Thursday,” the day the Luftwaffe won.
This dramatic narrative takes us through the build-up to the mission before focussing on the desperate struggle for survival in the skies above Germany. The raid was to have profound implications as the Luftwaffe regained air superiority over Germany and the US Air Force conducted no more missions until long-range fighter escorts were available. A new air war had begun.
