"Lt Gatzke and crew of the 305th Bomb Group shown beside their Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. 6 Jan. 1945, England."

401st Bomb Group, Mission No. 211, 21 Feb 1945, Nurnberg, Germany. Group briefing took place at 0345 hours. Pilots were warned of obstructions and briefed on controlled take off procedures. All operational aircraft were airborne by 0751 hours. As there were no aborts, the four spares returned early as planned. All aircraft had returned safely from the mission by 1630 hours, Flying Control noting: "Good landings. Perhaps our 'magnesium flare weather' is over." The entire 8th Air Force once again concentrated on the strategic railroad marshalling yards at Nurnburg, Germany, a facility critical to German efforts to halt the advance of the Russian Army. In all, 1,219 four engine bombers attacked the target, dropping nearly 3,000 tons of high explosives. While 362 aircraft sustained battle damage, not one was lost on this mission. The 401st again put up three squadrons comprising the 94th Combat Wing "B" Group. Heavy cloud cover again made it necessary to utilize PFF (radar) bombing technique. While no visual observations were possible, the concentration of smoke markers and plotting of the PFF scope photographs indicated that a good bombing run was accomplished. No enemy aircraft appeared but flak, described as "meager and accurate", was encountered over Frankfurt and over the target area. Seven 401st ships sustained minor battle damage.