1943 B-17 - Joint Army Air Corps and Royal Air Force begin joint bombing missions over Europe

COMBINED OFFENSIVE OVER EUROPE
Following the outbreak of World War II, first Britain’s Royal Air Force then the United States Army Air Corps purchased thousands of B-17s and began to use them extensively in the European theater. Over the next two years, the two countries flew hundreds of missions designed to disrupt and destroy Germany’s domestic war effort. During these missions, the B-17 earned a reputation that it could survive heavy damage from enemy fighter pilots and anti-aircraft fire. On Oct. 14, 1943, what would become “Black Thursday,” 291 bombers attacked factories in Schweinfurt, Germany, of which 77 were lost and 122 needed repairs.