847
25 February 1945
Object Number - UPL 35159
Description
"The Aerial Sledgehammer fashioned by bombers of the 8th and 15th Air Forces and the RAF fell on German communications and fuel supplies for the forth day in a row yesterday as 1,150 Fortresses and Liberators of the 8th hit railyards, airfields, an oil storage depot and a tank plant while Lancasters of the RAF bombed a synthetic oil plant near Dortmund and the 15th Heavies attacked communications at Linz, Austria"
"The big target for the 8th yesterday was Munich, a focal point in the German railway system, where Fortresses rumbled over two waves to hit the terminal rail station and marshalling yards in the eastern and western parts of the city. Other formations of fortresses pounded yards at Ulm while Liberators bombed the yards and a tank assembly plant at Aschaffenburg, and airfields at Giebelstadt and Schwebisch-Hall, west of Nuremburg. Fortresses also hammered an underground oil storage depot hidden in the woods outside Neuburg, between Munich and Nuremberg."
Mission Details
Description: BOMB TARGETS OF OPPORTUNITY
Description: FIGHTER SWEEPS
Notes: A mix of 262 P-47s and P-51s fly close escort and area patrols with the bombers.
ASCHAFFENBURG
Description: MARSHALLING YARDS
ASCHAFFENBURG
Description: TANK FACTORY
DURLADINGEN
Description: BOMB TARGETS OF OPPORTUNITY
FRIEDRICHSHAFFEN/MAYBACH
Description: TANK FACTORY
GIEBELSTADT
Description: AIRFIELD
Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator

- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
KAUFBEUREN
Description: INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
KEMPTEN
Description: BOMB TARGETS OF OPPORTUNITY
KENZINGEN
Description: BOMB TARGETS OF OPPORTUNITY
LUDWIGSFELDT
Description: MARSHALLING YARDS
MUNICH
Description: MARSHALLING YARDS
MUNICH
Description: OIL STORAGE DEPOT
MUNICH
Description: RAILROAD STATION and MARSHALLING YARD
NEUBERG
Description: MARSHALLING YARDS
Germany
Description: BOMB TARGETS OF OPPORTUNITY
Notes: RORTWELL
SCHWABISHCH/HALL
Description: AIRFIELD
Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
Notes: Ivan M. Wright Crew - 466th BG 784th BS was lead crew on this mission

- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
Mission Statistics
- Tonnage Dropped: 249
- Aircraft effective: 93
ULM
Description: MARSHALLING YARDS
Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress

- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
Mission Statistics
- Aircraft sent: 38
- Aircraft effective: 35
- Aircraft missing in action: 1
- Aircraft damaged beyond repair: 1
- Aircraft damaged: 7
Connections
See how this entry relates to other items in the archive by exploring the connections below.
People

- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 96th Bomb Group 339th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: AF 34 725 400
- Highest Rank: Chief Master Sergeant
- Role/Job: Toglier in WWII; Aircraft Maintenance until 1967 retirement
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 401st Bomb Group 615th Bomb Squadron
- Highest Rank: Sergeant
- Role/Job: Ball Turret Gunner

- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 401st Bomb Group 612th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 12077778
- Highest Rank: Technical Sergeant
- Role/Job: Radio Operator-Mechanic-Gunner

- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 401st Bomb Group 612th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: O-735233
- Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Navigator; Bombardier
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 401st Bomb Group 615th Bomb Squadron
- Highest Rank: Flight Officer
- Role/Job: Navigator
Aircraft

- Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
- Nicknames: Diana Queen Of The Chase
- Unit: 401st Bomb Group 612th Bomb Squadron

- Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
- Nicknames: Dynamite John
- Unit: 401st Bomb Group 612th Bomb Squadron

- Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
- Nicknames: Paisano
- Unit: 95th Bomb Group 96th Bomb Group 335th Bomb Squadron 336th Bomb Squadron

- Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
- Nicknames: Lucky Lady aka Screaming Eagle
- Unit: 351st Bomb Group 95th Bomb Group 335th Bomb Squadron

- Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
- Nicknames: Farmer's Daughter
- Unit: 401st Bomb Group 614th Bomb Squadron 615th Bomb Squadron
Revisions
newspaper article from personal collection.
Records acquired from grandfathers collection.
Lee Cunningham, 8th Air Force missions research database / Stan Bishop's 'Losses of the US 8th and 9th Air Forces', the Combat Chronology of the US Army Air Forces and the work of Roger Freeman including the 'Mighty Eighth War Diary'.