404th Fighter Group
Group
A unit history of the 404th Fighter Group is available online as a pdf:
http://www.winkton.net/Leap%20Off/LeapOffPdf3.pdf
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Military
Group
A unit history of the 404th Fighter Group is available online as a pdf:
http://www.winkton.net/Leap%20Off/LeapOffPdf3.pdf
Squadron
"During one of the many breaks in operations caused by weather, Lieut. Col. Cowart of the 555th Signal Aircraft Warning Battalion introduced to pilots of the [404th FB] Group a radar set known as the SCR-584 (Signal Corps Radio). It had the ability to...
Military site : airfield
Event | Location | Date |
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Born | Milwaukee, Wisconsin | 27 September 1921 |
Enlisted | Milwaukee, Wisconsin | 2 April 1942 |
Combat Mission | Krefeld, Germany | 5 December 1944 |
But the big moment of the day came on the early 508th mission, a strike against the enemy airdrome at Krefeld, ten miles northwest of Dusseldorf and five miles west of the Rhine. The squadron leader, Wayne Anacker, had seven to ten-tenths cloud cover to contend with, but after circling observed the airdrome through a small hole in the clouds. On it were at least 12 twin-engine single-fin aircraft, probably Ju-88's. Anacker started down immediately, fearful of losing sight of the field, and called the squadron to follow quickly. Picking up speed, he opened fire with his machine guns from 8,000 feet and continued on down to 4,000 feet, where he released his bombs. The squadron followed his lead, ran into intense light flak, and almost immediately pulled into the clouds. Only Frank Webner, Anacker's wingman, got a good look at what happened to the target. He saw Anacker's bullets spattering all over three parked planes, and saw his own tracers hitting two others. He didn't stay down long enough to watch the bombs go off as German 20 and 37 mm stuff streamed up in his face, but the squadron on the basis of his observation put in a claim of five Ju-88's probably destroyed. |
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Combat Mission | Junkerath, Germany | 1 January 1945 |
Capt. Wayne H. Anacker had the honor of leading the 508th Squadron on the Group's first mission in 1945, taking off at 0852 to smash the marshalling yard and a concentration of goods wagons at Junkerath |
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Combat Mission | Schleiden, Germany | 21 January 1945 |
Capt. Anacker led the 508th a bit further north to knock out 24 freight cars, and destroy or damage 17 vehicles, an armored vehicle, two tanks and three guns in the Schleiden area. |
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Died | Denver, Colorado | 17 June 2004 |
Buried | Fort Logan National Cemetery, Denver, Colorado | 21 June 2004 |
Fort Logan National Cemetery |
Date | Contributor | Update |
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18 May 2019 01:27:25 | 466thHistorian | Changes to place associations |
Sources | ||
http://www.winkton.net/pages/Claude%20O'Brien.htm |
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Date | Contributor | Update |
18 May 2019 01:24:09 | 466thHistorian | Created entry with surname, middlename, firstname, nationality, highest rank, role, events and unit associations |
Sources | ||
https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=8939&h=2865299&... |