I agree with you, Sam. Even with all the guns on a B-17 and flying tight formations, they were very vulnerable to fighters. We were asking an awful lot of those crews to continue to fly unescorted.
During World War II, more than 200,000 Americans were stationed throughout the United Kingdom as members of the U.S. Eighth Air Force. Their mission was to help the Royal Air Force destroy the military and industrial power of Nazi Germany by taking the war directly over enemy land. In massive air battles involving thousands of bombers and fighters, over 26,000 young American airmen were killed (one-tenth of all Americans killed in WWII) and 18,000 were wounded. Over 28,000 became POWs after being shot down in German territory. Despite severe losses, the "Mighty Eighth" was never turned back by enemy action and eventually succeeded in devastating the Nazi warmaking machine. The heroic efforts of these brave men established air superiority that allowed the Allies to successfully invade the European continent and end the war.
The performance of the 8th Air Force would never again be matched in warfare, and no air force has done more to make a free world possible."
--Historical Aviation Album, 1979