DOCUMENT 53564

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401st Bomb Group, Mission No. 232, 19 Mar 1945, Plauen, Germany. At briefing, which took place at 0445 hours, the Group was briefed on two alternate plans. Plan A was decided on and a 45 minute delay ordered, resulting in the taxi and takeoff times shown above. All operational aircraft were off by 0850, with the two spares returning early as unneeded. Because of the length of the mission, it was anticipated that most of the ships would have to land to refuel, and all did so, a number landing on the Continent. By 2200 hours, Flying Control could report that all but eight of the operational aircraft had been accounted for. The 401st made up the 94th Combat Wing "B" Group on this mission, providing the usual three squadrons. The primary target, the benzol plant at Molbis, near Leipzig, could not be attacked because of heavy cloud cover. The 401st therefore dropped on the secondary target, the cellulose plant at Plauen, using PFF (radar) techniques. Results could not be observed. Unlike the previous day's mission, the 401st encountered no form of enemy opposition and all crews returned to Deenethorpe without casualties.

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Units

A pathfinder B-17 Flying Fortress (serial number 44-8258) of the 401st Bomb Group. Image by Robert Astrella. Written on slide casing: '48258 14 A, Mount Farm.'
  • Unit Hierarchy: Group
  • Air Force: Eighth Air Force
  • Type Category: Bombardment

Locations

Mission

  • Date: 19 March 1945
  • Official Description:

Revisions

Date:
Contributoracbernstein1
ChangesCreated entry with caption, unit associations, place associations and mission associations