The Schweinfurt–Regensburg mission was a strategic bombing mission during World War II carried out by Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers of the US Army Air Forces on August 17, 1943. The mission was an ambitious plan to cripple the German aircraft industry; it was also known as the "double-strike mission" because it entailed two large forces of bombers attacking separate targets in order to disperse fighter reaction by the Luftwaffe. It was also the first American shuttle mission, in which all or part of a mission landed at a different field and later bombed another target before returning to its base.
1st Bomb Wing B-17s over Schweinfurt, Germany
Track chart of the Schweinfurt–Regensburg mission
The Messerschmitt factory at Regensburg obscured by smoke after it was bombed
B-17s of the Regensburg strike force flying south over the Alps on their way to North Africa
100th Air Refueling Wing
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The 100th Air Refueling Wing, nicknamed the Bloody Hundredth, is a United States Air Force unit assigned to the Third Air Force, United States Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa. It is stationed at RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk, United Kingdom. It is also the host wing at RAF Mildenhall.
Tail of a 100 ARW Boeing KC-135R-BN Stratotanker displaying the crest of RAF Mildenhall and the historic "Square D" badge as used by the unit on B-17 aircraft during World War II
Badger's Beauty V, a Boeing B-17 Fortress of 350th BS crashlanded in Normandy near Villers, France 4 October 1943. All crew survived,
Boeing B-17G Fortresses of 351st BS
A pair of 100th ARW KC-135Rs at RAF Mildenhall, 2019.