Description: INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX

Description: TROOP CONCENTRATION

Description: OIL REFINERY

Description: EQUIPMENT CONCENTRATION

Description: HARBOUR INSTALLATION

Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress

Notes: 3rd Bomb Division was made up of B-17s is 94th Bomb Group, 95th Bomb Group, 96th Bomb Group, 100th Bomb Group, 385th Bomb Group, 388th Bomb Group, 390th Bomb Group, 447th Bomb Group, 452nd Bomb Group. ___________________________________________________________________________ On this day, the 1st Air Division was assigned targets in the Peenemunde area, the 2nd Air Division was assigned the Caen area of France, while the 3rd Air Division was sent to Kiel. The 388th Bomb Group furnished two Groups. The A Group was the high Group in the 45th A Combat Wing while the B Group was the high Group in the 45th B Combat Wing. 17 aircraft of the A Group and 18 aircraft of the B Group were airborne between 0428 and 0501 hours. 1 aircraft from each Group aborted. Formations were effected and the briefed course to the target was followed. After the Wing left England, 10/10th clouds prevailed over the entire route. The PFF equipment in the lead aircraft of the A Group was not functioning and the Wing did not get into position to bomb on the markers of the preceding Wing. Our A Group returned with their bombs. The B Group attacked the primary target with bombs away at 0842 hours from 25,300 feet. No enemy fighters were seen. Flak over the target was moderate. All of our aircraft returned to base by 1123 hours. (From 'The 388th At War' by Ed Huntzinger). ___________________________________________________________________________

Description: MARSHALLING YARDS

Description: V-2 MISSILE DEVELOPMENT

Notes: 1st Bomb Division was made up of 91st Bomb Group, 92nd Bomb Group, 303rd Bomb Group, 305th Bomb Group, 306th Bomb Group, 351st Bomb Group, 379th Bomb Group, 381st Bomb Group, 384th Bomb Group, 398th Bomb Group, 401st Bomb Group, 457th Bomb Group. 457th BG - MISSION NO. 89 - MUNICH, GERMANY - 16 JULY, 1944 Munich, having received a two-day respite, was the objective for the fourth time in six days of the striking power of American heavy bombers. The field order was the same as before. Bomb Allach if weather permits. Bomb Munich if clouds obscure the ground. The 457th Group dispatched thirty-six planes aloft to comprise the lead and low boxes of the 94th A Combat Wing, with Major Hozier and Lt. Russell M. Selwyn leading in a PFF plane. Major Dickinson led the low box. After a normal assembly, the formation, sixth in the Division line, proceeded across the North Sea to the Scheldt Islands. Again no variation or deception had been put in the penetration route. It was exactly the same as the last three missions. The flight south over Belgium and thence southeast over northern France, Luxembourg and Germany, to a point fifty miles from the IP was uneventful. The cloud cover increased to ten- tenths near Stuttgart and rose abruptly from 14,000 to 22,000 feet. Dense and persistent contrails interfered with the formation flying. The Division formation became disrupted. A turn northeast was executed to hold it intact. The IP was far to the south as it was passed, still the course was held although Munich was fifty miles to the south. Finally, when a turn was made for a run on the city, Regensburg lay directly beneath the thick clouds which now had risen to 26,000 feet. The bomb run would be from the northeast instead of the northwest. The bombs were released from 27,000 feet. It was therefore certain that the bombs landed in the center of the city. At this height the flak, though intense, was vely inaccurate. Much of it was a thousand or more feet below. After bombing, the Wing formation proceeded in the return route by itself. The aircraft returned without loss. Four times in six days southern Germany had borne the weight of more than one thousand American heavy bombers.

Description: TROOP CONCENTRATION

Notes: This mission is carried out with cooperation of 9th AF and RAF Bomber Command in support of the British Second Army in the Caen area. OPERATION GOODWOOD. The bombers blasted an enormous gap (1,500 yards deep by 4,000 yards wide in the enemy front that allowed the forces of Field Marshall Montgomery to capture most of Caen. But the men of Panzer Group West still held the high ground south of Caen. This prevented Montgomery's forces from breaking out into the Falaise plain. Actually the bomb craters stalled Montgomery's mechanized columns. This would not be the end of the experiment of using heavy bombers in a tactical role to aid the ground forces. This force is escorted by 90 RAF Spitfires.

Description: MARSHALLING YARDS

Description: TROOP CONCENTRATION