Regensburg - No Place to Hide

Mark Postlethwaite's aviation art print 'Regensburg - No Place to Hide' commemorates the entry of US bombers into the European war, a daring simultaneous 'Double Strike' was planned against the Me 109 assembly plant at Regensburg - which was responsible for over 25% of all Luftwaffe fighter production - and the strategically important ball bearing plant at Schweinfurt. At 11.05 am on August 17, 1943, the first wave of over 140 B 17s of the 4th Bomb Wing, led by Colonel Curtis E. LeMay, crossed the Dutch coast and commenced their long journey to Regensburg. Within minutes, enemy aircraft started to appear. With only a quarter of the planned P 47 escort in position, the bombers were soon left to fend for themselves. The fighters of JG 26, whose bases were located beneath the bombers' flightpath, played a key part in the protracted aerial assault that followed.

Through superb air discipline, the B 17s held their box formations for almost two hours against the sustained attacks of more than 200 fighters and went on to hit their targets at Regensburg. They then headed for North Africa, as planned, losing 24 aircraft throughout the mission and escaping the further heavy casualties suffered by their comrades returning directly to the UK from Schweinfurt.

In Mark Postlethwaite's exciting composition, we experience the dramatic intensity of the air fighting that took place that August day over Holland. A pair of Me 109Gs from 9/JG 26 flash through the formation of the l00th Bomb Group, while a Me 110 (lower right) stalks the B 17s and reports their position. The success of the Regensburg mission was recognised by the award, to the whole force, of Distinguished Unit Citations and was aptly summed up by General Frederick L. Anderson when he declared that the enemy now had "No place to hide!"