Скачать или смотреть Wings (3/12) : Dresden Firestorm

For educational purposes

Dubbed the "Flying Fortress," the B-17 was designed to fight its way to a target, drop its bombs and fight its way back again.

Pilot a B-17 during a deadly raid on "The Big B," Berlin; experience intense wartime footage from the Fortress' cockpit; see one of the few remaining B-17's still flying and hear dramatic stories from surviving members of the 100th Bomb Group.

"The Luftwaffe swept through our group and shot down every plane in the group except our plane... We had two severely wounded waist gunners, we had a rocket hole through the wing. Two engines were knocked out. And we
went to the target alone and dropped our bombs..." – Robert Rosenthal, B-17 pilot

When the 100th Bomb Group first arrived at their new base of Thorpe Abbott, England, they had 30 bombers, 300 aircrew and 3,000 support staff.

Of those original thirty crews, 86% were shot down. It earned the Group the chilling nickname 'The Bloody 100th'.

This is the story of the men of the 'Bloody 100th' and the B-17 Flying Fortresses they flew on some of the most dangerous daylight bombing missions of the war, as told by the members of the 'Lucky Bastards Club' - the few who successfully flew 25 missions and were sent home.

The Bloody 100th took part in Operation Gomorrah against Hamburg, and in the infamous Schweinfort and Regensburg raids.

They were decimated over Munster, spearheaded raids against Berlin and - most controversially of all - were part of the terrible attack on Dresden that caused so many civilian casualties...

Using much rare colour footage (including private home movies), gun camera film and dramatic archive material, this is the story of one of USAAF's most combat-experienced Bomber Groups.