The Experience of War in Nazi Airspace
by someone who was there
by someone who was there
Combat Missions 1 to 18
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First Combat Mission: July 6, 1944
(Editor's Note: The crew's introductory mission was
the stereotypical milk run. While on their second mis-
sion, the crew found itself in the midst of the largest
aerial battle since D-day, resulting in one of the crew's
engines getting shot out over the target.)
Target for today:
The Krupps armament works in Kiel, Germany
(the home of the German U-boats). No fighters en-
countered. Flak was moderate and inaccurate. A
few ships got hit, but nothing serious. No battle in-
juries on our plane. The trip was long and tiresome.
- Flying time .......... 6 hr. 25 min.
- Temperature ..... -20 degrees C
- Load ................. six demolition bombs
and six incendiaries of 20 clusters each.
We could not miss the target, in spite of a slightly over-
cast sky and smoke screens. Flak was heaviest at the
target. Went across Denmark after leaving target for
home. Plenty of bombers were in the mission (pretty
rough) and fighter escorts. About 125 bombers in our
formation. Bombing altitude was 24,000 ft. The target
was blasted.
Take-off time ..... 6:05 am
Landing time ..... 12:30 pm
Our escorts were P-38s, P-47s and P-51s.
Target time: 9:27 am
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Second Combat Mission: July 7, 1944
Our target for today was the JU-88 fighter (twin engine)
assembly plant in Aschersleben, Germany. This is in cen-
tral Germany. Today, the greatest air battle over central
Germany was fought since D-day. The flak was heavy
and accurate. Also, plenty of enemy fighters (JU-88,
Me-109, Me-410, FW-190).
Over 1,000 heavy bombers and plenty of escorts were in
the vicinity. Our escorts were P-38s, P-47s, and P-51s.
Our #3 engine was shot out over the target. (Rough.)
We stayed in formation until we were far from the target.
As we were falling back (out of formation), fighter es-
corts stayed with us despite the heavy flak and German
interceptors. We made it all the way back on three en-
gines. We went over Holland, going over to Germany
and coming back from there. Plenty of planes went
down.
We made an emergency landing.
I guess we were plenty scared after being hit.
Bomb load was twelve 500 lb demolition bombs.
The target was completely smashed and left burning.
Bombing altitude was 23,000 ft.
Take-off time ..... 06:10 am
Landing time .......12:50 pm
Total flying time ... 6 hrs, 40 mins
About two hundred B-24s were in our formation.
37 bombers and 6 fighters lost.
Target time ........ 9:45 AM
Plenty rough.
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Third Combat Mission: July 8, 1944
Our target for today:
Two large railroad bridges near Paris, France. These
bridges are important in that the railroads feed supplies
to the German troops in northern France. The weather
was bad. Cloudy all over the target area. We got as far
as the target area and started back without dropping a
bomb.
The reason for not dropping bombs: We were on a sight
bombing mission and couldn't see the target. We didn't
take a chance on hitting the French or doing something
we would be sorry for. (Temp: -23 degrees C)
The trip was going very good. No fighters and no flak
until coming back from target. The huns threw flak at
us as we were over Antwerp, Belgium. It was moder-
ate and rather inaccurate, as they shot at us through the
clouds. The rest of the trip was easy.
Take-off time ..... 04:15 am
Landing time ...... 09:40 am
Flying time ........... 5:25 hrs.
No battle injury.
Eight 1,000 lb Demolition bombs.
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Fourth Combat Mission: July 12, 1944
(Editor's note: The "initial point" was the place in the
sky where the bombing phase began.)
Target for today:
Marshalling yards in Munich, Germany. The trip was well
carried out. In all, there were about 1,200 heavies and
strong fighter support. The escorts were P-38s, P-47s,
and P-51s. No enemy fighters encountered. We didn't
get any flak until we got at the I.P. Over the target, it was
a barrage. (Very intense). Twenty-six ships in all went
down. None, however, from our formation. We got one
flak hole through our #2 engine nacelle. It didn't do much
damage.
The mission was long and tiresome. Munich was hit the
day before, by about the same number of bombers. The
targets were blasted. Bomb load was six 500 lb demoli-
tion bombs and four 500 lb incendiary bombs.
- Total: 5,000 lbs.
- Take-off time ........ 09:10 am
- Landing time ......... 18:10 pm
- Flying time ............. 9 hrs.
- Bombing altitude ... 24,000 ft.
- Temperature ........ -23 C
- Target time ............. 14:40
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A July Flight (with a Haywire Compass) that
Was Given No Credit as a Combat Mission:
Our target for today was Saarbrucken, Germany. We did
not get credit for a mission. We had trouble with the radio
compass and couldn't find the formation. We flew over to
the French coast, but turned around and came back home.
We had trouble finding the field, as weather was closing in,
and our radio compass was going haywire. Our bomb load
was four 2,000 lb bombs. We had to drop bombs in the
channel before landing.
The loss on this raid was pretty bad. About three crews
went down from our group. One gunner got a leg shot
off. One crew tried to land with full bomb load and only
3 engines. They went down at the edge of the runway
and then exploded. We were supposed to make another
mission that afternoon, but the weather was too bad.
- Take-off time ........ 5:15 am
- Landing time ......... 10:40 am
- Flying time ............. 5 hr 25 min
- The target .............. Marshalling Yards
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Fifth Combat Mission: July 16, 1944
Our target for today:
Saarbrucken, Germany. This was our fifth mission. We
expected a lot of trouble on this mission, but it turned out
okay. The weather was very pretty. The sun was coming
up out of the sea when we took off. I think the sky was
the prettiest one I have ever seen. The many airplanes
made a very beautiful picture.
The route we took went through Belgium, near Brussels.
Then on down to France, and along the boarder to the
target. We bombed the marshalling yards. Our bomb
load was twelve 500 lb demolition bombs.
Total: 6000 lbs.
Bombing altitude was 23,500 ft.
Our bombs had to be salvoed over the target, as they
wouldn't release automatically. The doors would not
close. It took some time to get the bomb doors closed.
About 150 planes in our formation. We had fighter es-
corts of P-38s, P-51s, & P-47s. The flak was not very
heavy, and it was inaccurate.
- Take off time ..... 5:25 am
- Landing time .... 12:15 pm
- Total ................. 6: 50 min
- Target time ........ 9:40
- Temp ............... -20 C
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Sixth Combat Mission: July 17, 1944
Our target for today was the buzz bomb installation sites
near Dieppe, France. The robot target was smashed.
We had a very good mission. The flak was meager.
None came close to us. No fighters. We were over
enemy territory for approximately 30 minutes. The site
was about 15 miles east of Dieppe.
- The bomb load was eight 1,000 lb. Demolition bombs.
- Total bomb load was 8,000 lbs.
- Take off time .......... 18:05
- Landing time ........... 22:05
- Total flying time ....... 4 hrs.
- Bombing altitude ..... 19,000 ft
- Target time .............. 20:35
Added thought: This was the first mission where
we didn't get scared to death.
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Seventh Combat Mission: July 21, 1944
Our target for today was a Messerschmitt component
plant in Kempten, Germany. Kempten is located near
the Switzerland border and about 15 miles southeast
of Munich. The trip over and back took us over the
Zuider Zee, through the Netherlands, and across Ger-
many.
We got more flak on this mission than on any other one
thus far. Going to the target, the heaviest flak was en-
countered near Stuttgard. At the target the flak was very
intense and very accurate. Sometimes I wonder how we
got through.
Coming back, we got more flak when over the Ruhr Valley.
The heaviest being near Essen. This was all very intense
and accurate. We got one flak hole in both our stabilizers,
two holes in our left wing near number 3 engine, and two
holes in the nose. However, no serious damage was done
to our plane. All the formations were pretty much broken
up due to heavy flak and cloud formations encountered on
the way to the target.
In all, over 1,000 bombers participated in the day's opera-
tion; all from the 8th Army Air Corps. About 40 bombers
were lost. I now know how a duck feels during hunting
season. One ship in our Group was lost. Plenty of them
were pretty well shot up. Fighters seen, but our formation
was not attacked. Our escorts consisted of P-38s, P-47s,
and P-51s.
-The target was smashed.
- Our bomb load was fifty-two 100 lb incendiary bombs.
- Total bomb load was 5,200 lbs.
- Take-off time ......... 05:55
- Landing time .......... 13:55
- Total flying time ...... 09:40
- Bombing altitude ..... 25,500 ft.
Added thought: ROUGH.
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Eighth Combat Mission: July 23, 1944
Our target for today was a German aerodrome near
Reims, France. Other aerodromes in the Paris area
were also bombed. Bombing was done through clouds
by means of instruments, and results were unobserved.
The bomb load was forty 100 G.P. bombs. Total bomb
load 4,000 lbs. This was a very good mission. We saw
only a few bursts of flak at quite a distance. We saw no
fighters. The mission took us through Belgium, going in.
On the way out, we went around Paris, over Caen, and
across the Normandy battle front. There were about 50
bombers at our target. There was no battle damage.
- Take-off time ......... 14:45
- Landing time ........... 21:55
- Flying time .............. 7 hr 10 min
- Target time ............. 18:34
- Temperature .......... -25 C
- Bombing altitude ..... 24,000 ft
_ _________________________________________
Ninth Combat Mission: July 25, 1944
Editor's Note: This mission was Operation Cobra.
July 24 was intended to be the first day of the opera-
tion, however, a RTB Order (Return to Base Order)
delayed the operation for an additional day. July 25
marked the day when Nazi armored divisions learned
how vulnerable they were to America's heavy bombers,
medium bombers, and dive bombers.
-------------------------------------------------------
Today's mission was a tactical mission, in support of our
ground troops in France. Our target was a concentration
of enemy stronghold positions about 3 miles west of St. Lo.
The bombing was sight-bombing and our bombing altitude
was 12,000 ft, enabling us to go beneath the clouds.
The enemy troops were about 1,500 yds from our troops.
The bomb load was 240 20-lb frag. bombs. The flak was
rather intense and accurate. Our right wing ship went down
in flames. It is believed that the crew bailed out to our lines.
One of the fellows was in our barracks. Our plane luckily
made it without getting a single hole.
While going in, we went through the Normandy beach
head. There, we saw a big concentration of our ships.
We went down south of St. Lo and up to the west of it,
then to our target, and finally out through the Cherbough
peninsula. We saw heavy traffic down below us especi-
ally on our side of the line. The Field Artillery signaled
to us with flares. There were also white markers on the
ground to direct us in the air. The targets were all hit.
The coast was all full of bomb craters. We noticed a lot
of red cross hospitals, all over the areas below. About
1,500 bombers participated in the attack.
- Take-off time ........... 07:05 am
- Landing time ............ 12:05 pm
- Flying time ............... 5 hrs
- Bomb load ............... 240 20-lb fragmentation bombs
- Total bomb load ....... 4800 lbs
- Temp ...................... -23 C
- Bombing altitude ....... 12,000 ft
- Target time ............... 10:13
( Editor's Additional Note: All crew members of the
right wing bomber, except for the co-pilot, were killed
in action. Even though he survived, the co-pilot was
severely wounded and taken prisoner. However, he
was left behind (near the Saint Lo region) when Nazi
army units began to flee eastward.)
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Tenth Combat Mission: Aug 1, 1944
This is mission number 10 and our first one with our new
pilot, Capt. Allen. Our target was gas storage tanks in
Rouen, France. This mission I will never forget.
Bomb load was twenty 250 lb GPs and two 500 lb in-
cendiary bombs. The visibility was perfect. The target
was smashed and left burning & smoking.
The flak was moderate and very accurate. Our #1 engine
was shot out over the target. Our right landing gear would
not stay up. The interphone was out, along with a million
other things. We straggled back, and made a crash land-
ing on a landing field next to ours, about 10 miles away.
As we were coming into our field, engine #4 was conking
out, and we were losing engine #2. We lost altitude so
fast that we made for the nearest level strip. Luckily the
landing strip was below us. We put the wheelgear down
immediately as we approached the runway. The nose
wheel didn't go down. No time to put it down manually.
We hit the runway and skidded in on our tail skid.
As we approached the end of the runway, the brakes
were applied, the nose hit, and what a bang! I was in
the nose at the time, trying to get the nose wheel down.
Whew! The plane stopped about 10 feet off the end
of the runway. We made it with maximum damage and
no one injured.
- Take-off time ...... 12:55
- Landing time ....... 18:00
- Flying time ........... 5 hrs, 5 min.
- Bomb load .......... Twenty 250 lb G.P. bombs and
two 500 lb incendiary bombs.
- Total bomb load .... 6,000 lbs.
- Temp .................. -18 degrees C
- Bombing altitude ... 22000 ft
Added thought: ROUGH
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Eleventh Combat Mission: August 3, 1944
Our target for today was a buzz bomb site in the Pas-De-
Calais area. This mission, I believe, has been the easiest
one so far. The bombing was visual. The target was well
smashed.
- Our bomb load was twelve 500-lb.
- GP. Total load was 6,000 lbs.
- The bombing altitude was 23,800 ft.
- Temperature was -25 degrees C.
All I could see on the coast of France were bomb craters
and towns heavily damaged by bombing. We flew over
London on our way back. They have thousands of bar-
rage balloons in the London area.
- Take-off time ............ 15:35
- Landing time .............. 20:10
- Target time ................ 18:40
- Bomb load ................. Twelve 500 lb G.P.
- Total bomb load ......... 6,000 lbs.
- No battle damage.
- Total flying time .......... 4:45 hrs
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Twelfth Combat Mission: August 4, 1944
Our target for today was a jet-propelled aircraft plant
(Donier Component) in Wismar, Germany. The bomb-
ing was visual. We hit the target. The route took us
across the North Sea, over the northern part of Germany,
out over Kiel Bay. We circled around the target and at-
tacked from the south. We then went over Lubeck Bay
and back the way we came.
On this mission we were expecting everything the Ger-
mans had. Some of the Groups were hit by fighters, but
we were not. The flak was not very heavy and not very
accurate. We were escorted by P-51s. After today's
mission, I don't think the Germans have many fighters left.
The 8th Air Corps hit a number of targets in this area to-
day. We could see Kiel flaming and smoking as we came
back.
We flew over some beautiful country and lakes today.
The only thing wrong with today's mission was that it
was too long and tiresome. We were on oxygen for
approximately 5 hrs.
- Bomb load ................ Ten 500 lb GP
- Total bomb load ........ 5,000 lbs
- Take-off time ............ 10:25 am
- Landing time .............. 17:30
- Total flying time .......... 7 hrs 5 min.
- Bombing altitude ........ 30,000 ft
- Temperature .............. -23 C
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Thirteenth Combat Mission: August 11, 1944
Our target for today was Saarbrucken, Germany. This
was our thirteenth mission, but we called it 12-B just for
luck. This was a very rough mission. To start with, we
had a truck turn over as we were going to our ships.
About 10 boys were injured. Our armorer and I were
on this truck when it overturned. We both were lucky.
We both got out of it uninjured (all but a little bump on
my leg).
We finally took off and flew over the North Sea. The
automatic pilot hung up and threw the ship into half-spins.
We were ready to bail out, when the pilot finally stabilized
things.
Going to the target, we went through Holland near An-
twerp, then down near Brussels, and on down to France,
near the German border. At the target we had plenty of
heavy and accurate flak. A piece of flak came through
the right window and hit our right waist gunner on his flak
helmet. It knocked him down, but other than scaring him
almost to death, it didn't hurt him.
We made two runs on the target. We got about 30 holes
in our ship. The rest of our oxygen system was shot out.
We had to double up on the remaining supply. Gerry
really had our number. I didn't see any ships go down,
but one crew in our barracks was shot up so badly that
it had to go to Switzerland.
We bombed the marshalling yards in Saarbrucken.
That is the second time we hit that target.
- Bombing altitude was 22,000 ft.
- Bomb load was twelve 500 lb G.P. (T.N.T.)
- We took the same route we had taken on our
5th mission.
- Take off time .......... 11:20 am
- Landing time ........... 6:10 pm
- Flying time .............. 6 hrs 50 min.
- Total bomb load ..... 6,000 lbs
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Fourteenth Combat Mission: August 12, 1944
Our target for today was a German airfield at Laon,
France. The bombing was visual and results looked
good. We had flak at the target and a little at Brussels
on the way out. The flak at the target was pretty heavy
and fairly accurate. We really smashed the target! A
few ships were hit, but we did not loose anyone.
Some of my buddies finished their missions today. Oh
Happy day! Our route took us over London, across the
channel, through Cherbourg, down to Avenches, then
eastward through the south of Paris, and on to the target.
Then up near Brussels, over to Antwerp, back out over
the coast, across the channel, and then to England. We
could see the outskirts of Paris. Our fighter escorts were
P-51s. This was a big day in the battle for Paris. We had
no battle damage to our ship.
- Take off time ............ 5:20 am
- Landing time .............. 12:05 pm
- Flying time ................ 6 hrs, 45 min.
- Bomb load ............... Fifty-two 100 lb G.P.
- Total bomb load ....... 5,200 lbs
- Bombing altitude ....... 22,000 ft
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Fifteenth Combat Mission: August, 16, 1944
Our target for today was Magdeburg, Germany. This was
a very rough mission for some of the boys. The main tar-
get was an oil plant, but our squadron made a mistake and
dropped the bombs on a small town on the outskirts of
Magdeburg. That was good for us, because we did not
get any flak. We lost two ships in our group, due to our
own bombs dropping on them. Fighters attacked, but not
our squadron. Our fighters drove them off.
The route took us over the North Sea, over Holland, over
the Zuider Zee, around Hanover and Brunswick, and on to
the target. This was about 50 miles from Berlin. The route
back was almost the same. We got some flak on our way
out, at the coast. Plenty of flak at the target. We had no
battle damage to our ship.
- Bomb load ............... Fifty-two 100 lb GP's
- Total bomb load ....... 5,200 lbs
- Take off time ............ 7:20 am
- Landing time ............ 13:25 pm
- Total ........................ 6 hrs, 5 min.
- Target time ............... 11:30
- Temp ...................... -21 C
- Bombing Altitude ...... 22,000 ft.
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Sixteenth Combat Mission: August 25, 1944
Our target for today was a Heinkel aircraft plant in Ro-
stock, Germany. The plant was one of the largest in
Germany, but now it is no more. Our target was pre-
viously hit, but more damage needed to be done to it.
We smashed the target flat this time. The bombing was
visual, and I could see the bombs hit, blowing the place
sky high.
Our route took us over the North Sea, across the northern
part of Germany, out over the Kiel Bay, over the island of
Laaland, and then down to Rostock. We came back the
same way. We got flak at the coast, both going in & com-
ing out, as well as at the target. We got four holes in our
ship. No serious damage. No enemy fighters sighted.
We had heavy fighter support. About 200 bombers hit
this target. Our bomb load was six 500 lb demolition
bombs and six 500 lb incendiary bombs.
- Total bomb load ..... 6,000 lbs
- Bombing altitude ..... 21,300 ft
- Temp .................... -11 C
- Take off time .......... 8:00 am
- Landing time ........... 3:10 pm
- Total flying time ...... 7:10 hrs
_________________________________________
Seventeenth Combat Mission: Aug 26, 1944
Our target was a chemical and high explosives plant in
Ludwigshafen, Germany. The route took us over the
English channel, into Belgium. We first passed by An-
twerp, went down toward Brussels, and then through
Luxemburg, into Saarbrucken. We turned there, to-
ward the target.
We made the bomb run, but turned short of the target,
due to bad visibility. They had big smoke screens all
over Ludwigshafen, and they were very effective. May-
be it was a good thing that we fell short of the target,
because the flak there was terrible. We did not drop
our bombs there. We made a lefthand turn, and hit the
marshalling yards at Trier, Germany. The results on this
target were very good.
We got flak at Antwerp, going in and also going out, as
well as when we were over the primary target. Over this
target, I saw one ship go down in a ball of fire. At the
coast, I saw another one go into a tight spin. It blew up
when it hit the ground. I only saw five chutes come out
of this one.
Trier is located about 20 miles west of Ludwigshafen. No
flak was encountered here. We must have taken them by
surprise. We had heavy fighter support, too. No enemy
fighters encountered.
- Our bomb load was ..... Twenty-four 250 lb G.P. (TNT)
- Total bomb load was .... 6,000 lbs.
- Bombing altitude was ... 23,000 ft
- Target time .................. 11:56 am
- Temperature ............... -21 C
- Take off time ................ 6:40 am
- Landing time ................ 12:45 pm
- Total flying time ............ 6:05 hrs
___________________________________________
Eighteenth Combat Mission: August 27, 1944
Our target for today was an air base at the edge of Berlin.
It didn't turn out to be as tough as we anticipated, because
we never got there. We crossed over the North sea and
made landfall at Denmark. We ran into a big front there
and couldn't get over it or under it. We circled around for
more than one hour, trying to get around or through it, but
no success.
We were getting flak along the coast. The flak was light
and not so accurate. The wing leader finally decided to
turn back. While we were circling, I could see about
1,000 planes flying around. We were all very nervous
and scared, because this was supposed to be a tough
mission. We had two engines that were not running very
well, but we were headed to Berlin, nonetheless, until the
whole wing decided to return. We brought our bombs
back. (No battle damage.)
- Bomb load ........... Fifty-two 100 lb incendiaries,
- Total .................... 5,200 lb.
- Take off time ....... 10:55 am
- Landing time ......... 4:20 pm
- Flight time ............. 5 hrs 25 min
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Missions19 to 35 can be accessed by clicking on the
link posted directly below. On that same page are
Mercy Missions 1 to 3, plus the Destinations and
Targets List:
http://www.8tharmyairforce.com/part3.html
The Orientation Page can be accessed by clicking on
the link provided below. It contains a series of edu-
cational notes on the 8th Army Air Force:
http://www.8tharmyairforce.com
The photo page can be accessed through this link:
http://www.8tharmyairforce.com/photos.html
The interview page is located here:
http://www.8tharmyairforce.com/interview.html
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