Black Thursday, first published in 1960, is the masterful retelling of the U.S. bombing raid on Schweinfurt, Germany on October 14, 1943. The mission's objective was to destroy Nazi ball-bearing factories (ball-bearings were critical in most machinery). Of 291 B-17 Flying Fortresses involved in the attack, 60 planes and 650 men were lost over this heavily defended region. "Black Thursday" provides an exciting look at the mission: the B-17's background, the briefings, the flight crews and ground crews at work, and, of course, the fateful mission itself. Included are 16 pages of photographs and numerous pen and ink illustrations.