How many B-17s took off from Midway for the first air attack ?
5 July 1944 : 72 Eighth Air Force B-17s complete the shuttle mission ( UK - USSR - Italy - UK ) and attack a marshaling yard at Béziers , France ( with Fifteenth Air Force B-24s ) while on the last leg from Italy to the UK ; 42 P-51s return to the UK with the B-17s ( of the 11 P-51s remaining in Italy , ten return to the UK the following day and the last several days later ) After the Poltava disaster , the USAAF wanted to move the P-61 Black Widow - equipped 427th Night Fighter Squadron to Poltava to provide radar - enabled night air defense over the fields .