 On August 17, 1943, US Army Air Forces launched strategic bombing raids on the German cities of Schweinfurt and Regensburg with 376 B-17 bombers without long-range fighter escorts.The mission inflicted heavy damage on the Regensburg target but lost 60 bombers, or 16% of the force, with another 58-95 heavily damaged and a loss of 564 airmen killed, missing or captured.A second raid on October 14 with 291 bombers damaged ball bearing factories, halting production for six weeks, but resulted in the loss of 77 bombers, or approximately 26%, with damage to 121 more and 655 airmen killed or captured.