Mission No. 91

The 91st mission of VIII Bomber Command of the U.S. Eighth Air Force was one of the most costly operations of World War II. On September 6, 1943, 338 B-17s from 16 bomber groups took off from the airfields of England to bomb aircraft and weapons factories in Stuttgart. The seven-hour, 1200-mile raid was at the limit of the B17's operational range and beyond full fighter protection. Dense cloud cover obscured the target area preventing most of the bombers from attacking the primary targets. Fifty aircraft were destroyed and hundreds of men lost their lives or went missing. This graphic is dedicated to those flyers in an attempt to make their deeds known to a wider audience.