A squadron of B-17 Flying Fortresses from the US 8th Army Air Force is captured in the air over Germany on its way to bomb Stuttgart’s ball-bearing factories on September 7, 1943. The American high command was wedded to daylight precision bombing, believing that their heavily-armed bombers could fight off Luftwaffe fighter attacks on their own. They were to be proved wrong. Only the eventual arrival of long-range fighter escorts managed to reverse the ever-mounting rate of losses.