Today In History:  23 August  [1943]   --  Luftwaffe bombers attack the harbor at Palermo, Sicily

About 20 German Junkers Ju 88 bombersof Kampfgeschwader 76 attack the harbor at Palermo, Sicily, damaging several ships.  The Ju 88 was originally designed in the mid-1930s as a Schnellbomber ("fast bomber") that would be too fast for fighters to intercept. It suffered from technical problems during its development and early operational periods but became one of the most versatile combat aircraft of the war. Like a number of other Luftwaffe bombers, it served as a bomber, dive bomber, night fighter, torpedo bomber, reconnaissance aircraft, heavy fighter and at the end of the war, as a flying bomb.

PHOTO: Ju 88 preparing for take off, Tunisia, c. 1942–43.   Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-421-2069-14 / Ketelhohn (t) / CC-BY-SA 3.0

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Photo Attribution:  CC BY-SA 3.0 de  via Wikimedia.