25 February 1945
Lead Crew Commendation - Ivan M. Wright Crew - Crew #483 466th Bomb Group - 784th Bomb Squadron 25 February 1945 Schwabisch Hall, Germany
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"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."
BOMB TARGETS OF OPPORTUNITY
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FIGHTER SWEEPS
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A mix of 262 P-47s and P-51s fly close escort and area patrols with the bombers.
MARSHALLING YARDS
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TANK FACTORY
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BOMB TARGETS OF OPPORTUNITY
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TANK FACTORY
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AIRFIELD
B-24 Liberator
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Group
As well as strategic bombardment missions, the 453rd Bomb Group also ferried cargo on two occasions. They hauled petrol, blankets, and rations to France in September 1944 and dropped ammunition, food and medical supplies near Wesel during the airborne...
INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
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BOMB TARGETS OF OPPORTUNITY
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BOMB TARGETS OF OPPORTUNITY
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MARSHALLING YARDS
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MARSHALLING YARDS
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OIL STORAGE DEPOT
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RAILROAD STATION and MARSHALLING YARD
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MARSHALLING YARDS
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BOMB TARGETS OF OPPORTUNITY
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RORTWELL
AIRFIELD
B-24 Liberator
Ivan M. Wright Crew - 466th BG 784th BS was lead crew on this mission
Group
The 466th Bomb Group flew B-24 Liberators from Attlebridge, Norfolk, during the last year of the war in Europe. The Group flew 232 missions in the course of the year and celebrated the 100th one by inviting local people onto the base to mark the...
| Tonnage dropped | 249 |
| Number of aircraft Effective | 93 |
| Number of aircraft Missing In Action | 0 |
| Number of people Killed In Action | 0 |
MARSHALLING YARDS
B-17 Flying Fortress
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Group
The 95th Bomb Group was the only Eighth Air Force Group to be awarded three Distinguished Unit Citations. The first, shared by all four Bomb Wing Groups, was for the bombing of an aircraft factory under intense enemy fire at Regensburg on 17 August...
| Number of aircraft Sent | 38 |
| Number of aircraft Effective | 35 |
| Number of aircraft Missing In Action | 1 |
| Number of aircraft Damaged Beyond Repair | 1 |
| Number of aircraft Damaged | 7 |
Military | Chief Master Sergeant | B-17 Toglier in WWII; Aircraft Maintenance until 1967 retirement | 96th Bomb Group
Assigned Dec 1944. Flew 55+ missions in B-17 as togglier. Adcock grew up on a farm in Ellisville, Mississippi, USA. He was career Air Force, retiring in 1967 as a Chief Master Sergeant (CMSAF). Born 3/8/1924 Died 3/16/2017
Military | Staff Sergeant | Tail Gunner | 453rd Bomb Group
Robert Atkins served as a tail gunner with the 733rd Bomb Squadron of the 453rd Bomb Group, flying missions out of Old Buckenham, England.
Military | Lieutenant | Navigator | 95th Bomb Group
John Barnes was born January 31, 1922 in Philadelphia, PA, the son of Leonard and Gertrude Barnes of Emporium, PA . He received his undergraduate and Ph.D from Penn State University. He served in WWII as the navigator of the “Spirit of Martinez with...
Military | Colonel | Aircraft Mechanic, Instructor Pilot for B-24, B-17, B-25, Pilot, Aircraft Commander, Instructor Aircraft Maintenance | 351st Bomb Group
Military | First Lieutenant | Navigator, Commanding Officer | 384th Bomb Group
Bob Birney was assigned to the 547th Bomb Squadron on 5 February 1945 and completed 26 missions between 19 February 1945 and 20 April 1945.
Military | Staff Sergeant (Technician Third Grade) | Ball Turret Gunner | 95th Bomb Group
Assigned to 336BS, 95BG, 8AF USAAF. 24 x combat missions. Failed to Return (FTR) mission to Holzwickede 23-Mar-45. Mid air collision with B-17 44-8754, crashed Campsea Ash, Suffolk. Killed in Action (KIA).
Awards: AM (3OLC), GC, PH.
Military | Technical Sergeant | Radio Operator; Waist Gunner | 487th Bomb Group
Flew 34 combat missions from 1/8/45 to 4/21/45. Most of them in a B-17G 'Dinah-Mite' #44-8694.
Military | Captain | Pilot | 466th Bomb Group
Military | Technical Sergeant | Radio Operator/Gunner | 351st Bomb Group
Military | First Lieutenant | Navigator | 447th Bomb Group
John McKale Burk was born 30 November 1924 in Ventnor, Atlantic County, NJ to Frederick Grater Burk (20 April 1891 Philadelphia, PA -19 June 1948 Philadelphia, PA) and Mary Cunningham McKale Burk (21 February 1895 Philadelphia, PA - 20 October 1990...
B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Denver 9/2/44; Rapid City 2/3/44; Dow Fd 3/4/44; Assigned 398BG Nuthampstead 25/4/44; no ops, transferred 562BS/388BG Knettishall 29/4/44 WORRY BIRD; Returned to the USA Bradley 8/6/45; 4168 Base Unit, South Plains, Texas 29/11/45;...
B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Denver 16/2/44; 1SAG Langley 12/3/44; Dow Fd 29/5/44; Assigned 562BS/388BG Knettishall 31/5/44; Salvaged 9AF Germany 11/1/46.
B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Lincoln 14/10/44; Dow Fd 26/10/44; Assigned 561BS/388BG Knettishall 29/10/44; while on navigation exercise 17/5/45 with H.J. Cole, cp V. Ferguson, two navigators and two grounded crew, on as makeshift ttg and r/op (6 Killed in Action); crash...
P-51 Mustang
Piloted by 1st Lt Mark T. Wilson Jr on the 25 February 1945 bomber escort mission to Nuremberg, Germany. Low on fuel, had to be crash-landed, 1,5 km south-east of Siegerswoude, Friesland, The Netherlands. Missing Air Crew Report - MACR 12704..
P-51 Mustang
Piloted by 1st Lt Charles S. Oldfield on the 25 February 1945 bomber escort mission to Nuremberg, Germany. Low on fuel, had to be crash-landed, 1,5 km south-east of Siegerswoude, Friesland, The Netherlands. Missing Air Crew Report - MACR 12703.
B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Lincoln 18/9/44; Grenier 11/10/44; Assigned 561BS/388BG Knettishall 12/10/44; Returned to the USA Bradley 28/6/45; Sth Plains 1/7/45; Reconstruction Finance Corporation (sold for scrap metal in USA) Kingman 17/12/45. SUPERMOUSE.
B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Hunter 27/11/44; Grenier 16/12/44; Assigned 335BS/95BG [OE-E] Horham 1/1/45; battle damaged Chemnitz 6/2/45 with D.V. Tregoning, force landed B-53, Merville, Bel. then rep; 53m, Returned to the USA Bradley 21/6/45; Sth Plains 23/6/45;...
B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Dallas 20/6/44; Langley 6/7/44; Dow Fd 7/9/44; Assigned 562BS/388BG Knettishall 9/9/44; Salvaged 9AF Germany 28/2/46; RetUS, 613 BU Phillips 29/4/46.
B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Dallas 11/7/44; Langley 8/8/44; Dow Fd 12/9/44; Assigned 332BS/94BG [XM-Z] Rougham 14/9/44; transferred 335BS/95BG [OE-J] Horham 11/44; with L.W. Jensen, Radio Operator: Paul Rupard, Waist gunner: - Olson [2wia] 24/2/45; 53m, RetUS,...
B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Lincoln 31/10/44; Grenier 15/12/44; Dow Fd 15/12/44; Assigned 336BS/95BG [ET-X] Horham 17/12/44;with Bill Dunwoody force landed B-53 Merville Afd, Bel. 19/3/45; battle damaged Holzwickede 23/3/45 with Bill Dunwoody, Co-pilot: M. Burrows,...
| Date | Contributor | Update |
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| 17 September 2018 05:29:16 | spiritofmartinez45 | Changes to event |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 17 September 2018 05:28:09 | spiritofmartinez45 | Changes to event |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 17 September 2018 05:22:08 | spiritofmartinez45 | Changes to description |
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newspaper article from personal collection. |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 17 September 2018 04:57:43 | spiritofmartinez45 | Changes to person associations and aircraft associations |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 17 September 2018 03:50:44 | spiritofmartinez45 | Changes to media associations |
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Records acquired from grandfathers collection. |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 10 August 2015 18:05:09 | vkantor | Changes to event |
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vkantor |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 27 May 2015 14:48:21 | jdossetter | Changes to event |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 01 January 2015 23:22:02 | 466thHistorian | Changes to person associations |
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466th BG Historian |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 01 January 2015 23:18:54 | 466thHistorian | Changes to event |
| Sources | ||
The Mighty Eighth War Diary - Roger Freeman |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 27 September 2014 18:43:09 | AAM | AAM ingest |
| Sources | ||
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'. |
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