Who Is Out There?
Schweinfurt was historically tough and certainly no milk run, but somebody positively was out there trying to help us. Soon after we had dropped our bombs on Schweinfurt we began a shallow right turn away from the target flak to reform in a tight diamond combat formation. As I looked to the east I could see several groups advancing to the INITIAL POINT and beginning their bomb run. It was then I observed one of the most baffling incidents of my life. This was an enigma which to this day still defies a proper explanation.
The bombers of the 384th Bomb Group had passed the initial point and swung into their bomb run. The persistent fighter attacks suddenly ceased. I then noticed the reflection of what appeared to be circular type objects all around the formation. The German Fighters that normally seemed to swarm around and through the formations with their deadly 20 millimeter cannons where not to be seen. It was if the 384th Bomb Group was flying in a vacuum.
I later learned the pilots and several crews in the nose and top turret reported a cluster of discs in the path and closing on the bombers. The discs in the clusters were silver colored. They were easily seen by the B-17 crew members, gliding down slowly in a uniform cluster. One Fortress closed rapidly with a cluster of discs, and the pilot was unsuccessful in trying to evade the discs. He reported at debriefing that his right wing went through the cluster with absolutely no effect on the engines or the plane surfaces. The pilot further stated that one of the discs was heard to strike the tail assembly. None of the crew heard or witnessed any explosion.
It was also observed that about twenty feet from the discs the crew members sighted a mass of black debris of varying sizes in clusters of about four feet. Other aircraft was observed flying through the silver discs with no apparent damage. There were other discs and debris, but they were unable to determine where it had originated.
No other information on this incident has been uncovered, except that such discs were reported again seen by B-17 crew members after the Schweinfurt Mission.
This was reported in a secret document dated October 24, 1943, to the War Office, Whitehall, London.
World War II produced many documented phenomenons, and I was present when something or somone stopped the slaughter by German Fighters when we couldn't.
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