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25 February 1945
Lead Crew Commendation - Ivan M. Wright Crew - Crew #483 466th Bomb Group - 784th Bomb Squadron 25 February 1945 Schwabisch Hall, Germany
401st Bomb Group, Mission No. 215, 25 Feb 1945, Munich, Berlin. Briefing took place at 0330 hours. Aircraft loading was six 500 pound RDX's plus 6 M17 IB's. Assembly at 7,500 feet at Cottesmore Buncher. At 0730 hours Flying Control noted: "All aircraft airborne in dark takeoff. Good show." Three of the ships were forced to abort, two with propellers feathered. The 401st again put up three squadrons making up the 94th Combat Wing "B" Group. The primary target, the marshalling yards at Munich, were bombed visually. While a great deal of smoke from bombs dropped by preceding groups covered the area, which was also well camoflaged, strike photos indicated that the Group's bombs had hit in the target area, with results classified as good to excellent. There was no enemy air opposition. Flak over the target was moderate but generally inaccurate and caused no damage. However, the Group ran into accurate flak bursts over the German border resulting in damage to eleven aircraft. By 1703 hours all but three aircraft had returned from the mission, the three having landed at other bases because they were running low on fuel. The last of the three landed back at Deenthorpe at 1757 hours.
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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 | Sergeant | Ball Turret Gunner | 401st Bomb Group
Military | Technical Sergeant | Radio Operator-Mechanic-Gunner | 401st Bomb Group
Assigned to 612BS, 401BG, 8AF USAAF. Millard French crew. Completed 36 combat missions.
Awards: AM (5OLC), GC, WWII Victory, EAME (3 x Battle Stars).
Military | First Lieutenant | Navigator; Bombardier | 401st Bomb Group
DFC/ AM w/ 5 Oak Leaf Cluster/ Unit Citation w/ Oak Leaf Cluster
1 Damaged
Military | Flight Officer | Navigator | 401st Bomb Group
Military | Staff Sergeant | Tail Gunner | 401st Bomb Group
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.
B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Cheyenne 27/2/44; Hunter 22/3/44; Grenier 2/4/44; Assigned 612BS/401BG [SC-R] Deenethorpe 16/4/44; 111m, Returned to the USA Bradley 8/6/45; 4168 Base Unit, South Plains, Texas 12/6/45; Reconstruction Finance Corporation (sold for scrap metal...
B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Cheyenne 29/2/44; Gr Island 22/3/44; Grenier 20/4/44; Assigned 612BS/401BG [SC-H] Deenethorpe 13/5/44; Returned to the USA Bradley 6/6/45; 4168 Base Unit, South Plains, Texas 8/6/45; Reconstruction Finance Corporation (sold for scrap metal in...
B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Cheyenne 5/3/44; Hunter 7/4/44; Dow Fd 29/4/44; Assigned 615BS/401BG [IY-C] Deenethorpe 3/5/44; 614BS [IW-S]; 106m, Returned to the USA Bradley 7/6/45; 4168 Base Unit, South Plains, Texas 14/6/45; Reconstruction Finance Corporation (sold for...
B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Cheyenne 21/4/44; Kearney 2/5/44; Grenier 26/5/44; Assigned 613BS/401BG [IN-S] 27/5/44; Returned to the USA Bradley 8/6/45; 4168 Base Unit, South Plains, Texas 12/6/45; Reconstruction Finance Corporation (sold for scrap metal in USA) Kingman...
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 Tulsa 24/2/44; Gr Island 7/3/44; Grenier 5/4/44; Assigned 615BS/401BG [IY-J] Deenethorpe 2/5/44; 612BS [SC-O]; Returned to the USA Bradley 6/6/45; 4168 Base Unit, South Plains, Texas 21/10/45; Reconstruction Finance Corporation (sold for...
B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Tulsa 7/3/44; Kearney 22/3/44; Grenier 7/4/44; Assigned 614BS/401BG [IW-B] Deenethorpe 15/4/44; Returned to the USA Bradley 8/6/45; 4168 Base Unit, South Plains, Texas 12/6/45; Reconstruction Finance Corporation (sold for scrap metal in USA)...
B-17 Flying Fortress
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B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Cheyenne 26/11/43; Wendover 9/12/43; Grenier 20/1/44; Assigned 457BG Glatton 25/1/44; transferred 613BS/401BG [IN-J] Deenethorpe 11/3/44; Missing in Action Pas de Calais 19/3/44, force landed continent; Salvaged 1 SAD Troston 22/4/44; mission...
B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Denver 2/12/43; Kearney 17/12/43; Romulus 6/1/44; Kearney 7/1/44; Memphis 9/1/44; Presque Is 10/1/44; Assigned 612BS/401BG [SC-B] Deenethorpe 31/1/44; 134m crash landed Polebrook 22/4/44, Salvaged 1 SAD Troston. FANCY NANCY IV.
| 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 |
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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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