October 14, 1943 - "Black Thursday" - 291 U.S. heavy bombers and their escort of 103 fleet P-47 Thunderbolt fighters left sixteen American bomber bases in the English midlands on a mission to attack and destroy the heavily-defended German ball-bearings centre of Schweinfurt. Step by step, in a series of suspenseful, hard-hitting scenes, the author has reconstructed from thousands of official records, documents and films, and from personal interviews with many of the men who flew on Mission 115, the gruelling hours of the Battle over Germany. It is a story of tragedy, of fierce, large-scale battle, and of courage against heavy odds.