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THE UNIT
| # | Target Area | Date | Target | Lead Crew | Command Pilot | Ordinance | B-17s Lost | Claims |
| 23 | Schweinfurt, Germany | 14-Oct-43 | Ball Bearing Plant | Lt. R.D. Brown | Maj. Jeffrey | 74 x 1000lb General Purpose | 1 | 14-3-2 |
Three of the five ball-bearing plants that produced an estimated 50 percent of the production of German occupied Europe were singled out for attack on 14 October 1943.
No one item of manufacture was more
vulnerable than ball bearings in 1943. Sensing that the Germans had never decentralized
this one critical industry, the target committee of the Board of Economic Warfare advised
Bomber Command that the time was right to liquidate Schweinfurt.
By 14 October the weather was still clear over southern Germany. Since an earlier abortive attack in August, the enemy had moved in twin-engine fighters in great strength, had increased flak defenses to forty-four heavy guns, had ringed the town with smoke screen defense, and had camouflaged the plant extensively.
V.K.F. Werke II, one of the feeder plants in the system, was selected as the 390th target.
With Bremen, Munster, and Marienburg behind them, the crews went to the briefing, expecting almost anything. They were not disappointed.
In two forces, Bomber Command dispatched 291 aircraft. Only 228 attacked the target. Mechanical failures accounted for a few; fighter attacks for many.
In leading the 13th Combat Wing, Lt. Col. Jeffrey took 15 planes from the 390th over the target. One plane was lost to a combination of flak and fighters. Other groups did not fare so well. The loss of 60 heavy bombers struck the citizenry back in the United States as a terrific blow. There was a published story via Berlin radio stating that the Germans knew five hours ahead of time of the pending operation, and that a security leak had brought the great loss. The matter was aired in Congress, and an editorial questioned the use of heavy bombardment as a daylight strike weapon.
At the time the public could not be told that because of bad weather on the route back, P-47 fighters had failed to make the rendezvous points, and that the bomber stream had been unescorted a great part of the way.
For the loss of 60 bombers, the Germans paid the price of 186 destroyed, 27 probably destroyed, and 89 damaged planes. Not all of the enemy fighters took to the air. In the target area many were surprised on the ground.
The V.K.F. Werke II was a complex of fifteen buildings. By direct hits, fire, and blast, the 390th damaged severely eleven of the buildings, including machine shops, the electric power station, the dispatch buildings, the carpentry shop, and several administrative offices. Seven of the buildings were more than half destroyed.
Photo cover taken two days later revealed even more damage than had been thought previously. The industry was declared only 25 percent operational.
Schweinfurt ended a phase in 390th history. It had been as rough as week as any every experienced by a Bomb Group in any theater. Four times in a week had the Group accomplished superior bombing. On three of these missions enemy reaction reached a zenith.