A Brief History
On April 5, 1943, B-17 Flying Fortress bombers of the American 8th Air Force proved once again that “Friendly fire is not friendly!” On several occasions, we have discussed incidents where one side in an armed conflict accidentally causes casualties to either their own people or the people of an allied nation. In this case, US bombs meant to attack a factory supplying engine parts for German warplanes hit a residential area of Mortsel, Belgium, killing 936 civilians, of which 209 were children under the age of 15.
Digging Deeper
The US aviators were convinced that daylight bombing by heavily armed bombers utilizing the most sophisticated bomb sight of World War II, the Norden Bombsight, could destroy targets with “precision” bombing. The reality was that ideal conditions did not exist for bombing in Europe, with clouds and other weather conditions not conducive to good visibility. Other factors limited accuracy had to do with the Germans. These Germans had the audacity to send numerous fighter planes to shoot down and harass bombers and ground based anti-aircraft fire (known as flak) made bombing runs a hellish proposal. Another factor was large formations of bombers could be spread over a large area themselves, meaning the pattern of bombs hitting the ground would mirror the spread of the bombers.
