The Sweinfurt raids will continue to fascinate me and if – our rather when – I get around to building a B-17, it will be from those of those raids. It’s an itch that I want to scratch so that in my own small way, I can pay homage to those crews who did something that I know, heart of hearts, I would never have had the balls to do.
19th September 2025
Another Friday, another reasonably successful day in the office and in the studio. With my new build still under wraps for the next couple of weeks, I haven’t that much to show you today, so I thought I’d quickly mention something else that caught my attention this morning…
For some time now I’ve been interested in the USAAF’s raids deep into Germany to attack the ball-bearing factories in Sweinfurt. I’ve spent a long time discussing these raids with friends and where possible reading about them both in books and online. This morning, a friend posted a link to the National WWII Museum of New Orleans website, on which it discusses the raids and in particular, the second that took place on October 14th 1943. If you would like to read that page, here is the link:
Reading through the page, I can’t help, as has been the case many times before, but feel deeply emotional. The sheer bravery that those young men showed during those raids is something that I simply cannot comprehend. Nor can I imagine the terror that they must have felt so far from home when their fighter escorts reached the limit of their range and turned back, long before the bombers arrived at their targets.
I have to say as well, that my interest lies very much with the men and their machines, not the politics of war. Not the death and destruction. I know that all of that is part of the bigger picture and despite my pacifist learnings, everything I build has a purpose: that of killing other human beings. These raids were there to do just that, so despite my fascination with B-17s and B-24s, P-51s and P-47s, I cannot distant my thoughts from the 60 machines that were destroyed on that October day with the loss, killed, missing, or simply lost without trace, of 600 young men.
The Sweinfurt raids will continue to fascinate me and if – our rather when – I get around to building a B-17, it will be from those of those raids. It’s an itch that I want to scratch so that in my own small way, I can pay homage to those crews who did something that I know, heart of hearts, I would never have had the balls to do.
See you tomorrow.
SPENCER POLLARD'S KIT BOX 
Yes, war is brutal. Death, your involved hopefully to the other “guy” and not you. So much is destroyed, life, family, home, town, and country. Infrastructure can be rebuilt but lives can’t, there’s no glory in war despite what Patton said. Still the technology, the innovations, the changing of thought process is fascinating and sometimes stunningly beautiful. If it wasn’t for WW2 we might not have microwaves and other such “modern marvels” for a lot longer, but I like the P51, the FW190, the ………..
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Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad Wulf? “We Are!” came the reply from one B17 unit after seeing the full-page , head-on picture of the fearsome German fighter in an American publication. If you ever get to this side of the pond, and are in the Savannah, GA area, a must see is the 8th Air Force Museum. It is marvelous!
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