When the P-51 Mustang Appeared Over Berlin, the Luftwaffe Knew the War Was Lost On October 14, 1943, over Schweinfurt, Germany, the Luftwaffe ruled the skies. American B-17 Flying Fortresses were being destroyed at a catastrophic rate. German fighter pilots called it a turkey shoot. For the United States Army Air Forces, it became Black Thursday, the darkest day in the history of the Eighth Air Force. At that moment, German pilots believed the war in the air was already won. They were wrong. Jus