When the United States’ entered into WWII, one of the first big steps was to join Britain’s strategic air campaign to destroy Nazi Germany’s industrial capacity. Part of this major effort was launching B-17 “Flying Fortresses” from bases in England’s eastern countryside.
Sometimes up to 1,000 of these heavy bombers would take part in raids flying in three-dimensional formations in which aircraft were stacked one above the other to take advantage of the B-17’s defensive firepower. The B-17 carried 13 .50-caliber machine guns and had a crew of 10. Even with heavy machine guns that could fire from the front, back, top, bottom, and sides of the four-engine B-17, early in the war losses were high. It was decided early on that Americans would bomb targets during the day while the British attacked at night. Missions penetrated deep into enemy territory, with some lasting up to eight hours. Losses were high due to flak and the Luftwaffe.
Early in the war America’s bomber crews were limited to 25 missions. As conditions improved this was increased to 35 missions. With the 8th Air Force, the largest of the Army Air Forces that conducted heavy bombing of enemy targets in France, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany, one source indicated the 8th Air Force lost more members in WWII than all of the members of the U.S. Marine Corps.
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