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Bombing Summary
HEADQUARTERS 450TH BOMBARDMENT GROUP (H), AAF
OFFICE OF THE GROUP BOMBARDIER
APO 520 US ARMY
1 December 1944
SUBJECT: Bombing Summary for November 1944
TO: All Bombardiers
1. The following is an account of the
bombing done by this group for the period from 1 November 1944 through 30
November 1944.
a. Vienna
South Goods Sidings 1
November 1944
This mission was incomplete because the formation was forced
to turn back because of weather.
b. Moosbierbaum
Oil Refinery 3 November
1944
Three ships were sent out alone to bomb the Moosbierbaum Oil
Refinery in
Austria by the PFF Synchronous Method.
The PFF set went out in the first ship at the I.P. and the bombs were
released in the area. The next two
ships were able to go in on the target and drop their bombs.
c. Munich
West Marshalling Yard 4 November 1944
Three attack units were sent on this mission. All bombing was done by the PFF Synchronous
Method. Lt. Myers of the 720th
Sqdn. was the lead Bombardier and Lt. Dieckman of the 723rd Sqdn. was
the "Mickey" Navigator. Lt. Dieckman
was not able to take a run of the primary target because of a course variation
on the run. He picked up another target
in the area which gave a good return and made a run. Coordination between Bombardier and Mickey was excellent and the
bombs were released by the PFF system.
The third unit came in next. The
"Mickey" set went out near the target so this unit started to follow the first
unit in to drop on them. However, the
set came back in and the bombs were released by the synchronous method. It is believed that some bombs from this
unit fell in the yard. The last box in
had a very satisfactory run and coordination between "Mickey" and Bombardier
was excellent. Lt. Brickett was
Bombardier and Lt. Ryan was "Mickey" operator.
d. Podgorica
5 November 1944
This was the perfect mission. One box was sent out to bomb
troop concentrations. Captain Leavitt
was the Bombardier. He was given the
center of town as an aiming point.
However, on approaching the target he noticed the center of town has
already been bombed out. Using
excellent judgment he moved his aiming point to an area which had not been
bombed and let them go. This box did a
100% job of bombing.
e. Florisdorf
Oil Refinery, Vienna 5 November 1944
The main effort of the Group went to this target on this
date. The target was completely
overcast. All bombing was done by the
PFF Synchronous Method. No results
could be seen because of the complete target cover.
f. Ali
Pasin Marshalling Yard 6 November 1944
All bombs were returned to base on this effort because of
weather.
g. Moosbierbaum
Oil Refinery, Vienna 6 November 1944
This was another PFF mission. However, after the run was almost over, the Bombardiers were able
to see the target. It was too late to
do anything about it. The bombs were
dropped by the PFF method. The patterns
could be seen some 3,000 feet right of the target.
h. Brenner
Pass Line 7
November 1944
Bombing was done by boxes.
The primary target was covered by clouds so the group went to aiming
points along the Brenner Line. The lead
box was lead by Lt. Myers of the 720th Sqdn. He used as his aiming point the center of
the Marshalling Yards at Viniteno. This
box placed a 100% concentration of bombs in the center of the yard. The second box was led by Lt. Friend of the
722nd Sqdn. Lt. Friend had a
malfunction on the run and was unable to release his bombs on the first
run. The #2 man dropped when he heard
someone in the plane mention something about bombs. The rest of the box also released after the #2 man. This is just another case of where
Bombardiers do not do as they are briefed.
This box cut 25% off the group's score for the day. The third box was lead by Lt. Campbell of
the 723rd Sqdn. This box was
forced to make three passes at the target.
On the third run the bombs were dropped cutting the Brenner Line in
three places. The last box was led by
Lt. Frank of the 721st Sqdn.
The lead ship had an early return and Lt. Murphy assumed the lead
spot. He made an attempt to bomb the
Marshalling Yard at Fortenza but dropped his bombs before he was completely
synchronized. No damage was done by this
box.
i. Novi-Pazar
and Mitrovica 8
November 1944
Only one box dropped their bombs on this mission. The rest of the boxes returned their bombs
because the weather would not allow them to take a satisfactory run. Lt. Miller of the 720th Sqdn.
started his run under visual conditions.
About forty seconds away from the target a cloud obscured the target
from his sight. At the time he was very
well synchronized. He noticed at this
time that his bubbles were not level and tried to make an arbitrary correction
for them without being able to see the target.
His bombs fell some 3500 feet short and right of the target. Poor judgment was used in this case.
j. Ora
R. R. Bridge 11 November 1944
Mission returned early because of weather.
k. Ora
R. R. Bridge 12 November 1944
Three attack units were sent out on this mission. Bombing was done by twelve ship units. The first two units were led by Lt. Myers of
the 720th Sqdn. and Lt. Butner of the 722nd Sqdn. Neither unit hit the bridge but the first
unit hit both approaches. The South
approach was destroyed and the South span put out of use. Bombing was satisfactory as far as
percentage goes but could have been better as far as destruction is
concerned. The third unit was led by
Lt. Kemp of the 723rd Sqdn.
This unit was unable to drop on the primary due to a malfunction of the
auto-pilot. This unit proceeded to the
alternate target - - The R. R. Bridge at Casara and bombed the by-pass there
with excellent results.
l. Innsbruck
Marshalling Yard 15 November 1944
This was a single ship operation. Five ships went to this target individually. Bombing was done by the PFF Synchronous
Method.
m. Sjenica
Troop Concentrations 16
November 1944
No bombs dropped on this mission due to weather.
n. Munich
West Marshalling Yard 16 November 1944
This target was completely cloud covered. All bombing was done by the PFF Synchronous
Method.
o. Florisdorf
Oil Refinery – Vienna 17 November 1944
Complete overcast of the target again forced us to bomb by
the PFF Synchronous Method. No results
were obtainable.
p. Aviano
A/D Installations 18
November 1944
Four units bombed this target. Two units were complete attack units and the other two were
boxes. Clustered 100 LB Bombs were
carried with the idea of destroying A/D installations and any parked aircraft
in the area. Captain Leavitt of the 721st
Squadron led the first unit. This unit
did a superior job of bombing laying a good pattern over their aiming point and
target area. Lt. Hudson of the 722nd
Squadron led the second attack unit.
This unit missed their aiming point completely but managed to get their
pattern in a dispersal area about 1000 feet to the right. Lt. Miller and Lt. Gawne both of the 720th
Squadron led the last two boxes in.
Both of these boxes did an excellent job of bombing. Both covered their aiming point and target
area well.
q. Vienna
Schwecht Oil Refinery 19 November 1944
Once again weather conditions forced us to bomb by PFF. The first attack unit unable to pick up the
primary satisfactorily proceeded to the alternate at Gyer and made a PFF run
there. The second attack unit bombed
the primary by PFF. No results were
observed.
r. Doboj
R.R. Bridge 20
November 1944
Bombing was done by individual boxes on this mission. A good percentage was scored by the three
boxes but the bridge is still there.
The first box was led by Lt. Butner of the 722nd
Squadron. Lt. Butner was unable to
completely kill his rate and his box pattern started some 800 feet short
extending up to the approach of the bridge.
Lt. Feinberg of the 720th Squadron led the second box. This box had an excellent pattern about 2000
feet over and right of the bridge. No
explanation has been found for this error.
Lt. Frank of the 721st Squadron led the third box. Lt. Frank did a superior job of bombing by
placing his pattern right on the bridge.
The last box led by Lt. Kemp of the 723rd Squadron scored a
good percentage but missed the bridge some 300 feet to the right.
s. Ferrara
R.R. Bridge 22
November 1944
Bombing was done by attack unit on this mission. Only two of the attack units made successful
runs on the target. The second attack
unit broke formation because of an expected 3600 turn which didn't
materialize. The first attack unit was
led by Lt. Miller of the 720th Squadron. Only about one third of the bridge was visible because of the
smoke cover over the target area. Lt.
Miller did a very satisfactory job of bombing.
His pattern fell on the north approach to the bridge. A better job could have been done had Lt.
Miller offset his vertical hair to the left even though the bridge was
obscured. He would still have been able
to keep his lateral hair on the bridge and synchronize. This procedure would have saved the bombs
from the high right box. Lt. Heryla of
the 722nd Squadron led the three ships left from the second attack
unit over the target. No results were
observed here. The third attack unit
was led by Lt. Caselli of the 723rd Squadron. The entire target was obscured when this
unit came in on its run. Using
excellent judgment Lt. Caselli used check points to synchronize on. His pattern fell along the north approach to
the bridge. This was exactly what
should be done when another run cannot be taken on a heavily defended target.
t. Szenica
R.R. Bridge 23
November 1944
Weather over the primary target was the cause for bombing
this bridge. Three boxes bombed the
rail bridge and on the highway bridge.
The first box was led by Lt. McMahon of the 723rd
Squadron. Bubble trouble seems to have
caused an error here and the bridge was missed. A good percentage was scored by this box. The second box led by Lt. Welch of the 721st
Squadron was the third box to bomb.
Another good percentage was scored by this box but the bombs fell right
and short of the bridge. The third box
led by Lt. Gawne of the 720th Squadron bombed the highway bridge
because the rail bridge was obscured by smoke.
An excellent pattern was put very close the bridge with several possible
hits. The fourth box was led by Lt.
Glass of the 722nd Squadron.
This box did a superior job of bombing.
Not only did they score a high percentage but they destroyed the
target. This is the kind of bombing we
strive for.
2. Although we have flown but few
visual missions this month our bombing has shown a marked improvement over the
previous month. We still have a long
way to go before we reach our ultimate goal.
Bombardier's must keep working and practicing continually in order to
assure a success on every mission.
Squadron
Percentages for November 1944
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Sq. Average to Date
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Date
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Mission
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720
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721
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722
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723
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720
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721
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722
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723
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11-7-44
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Brenner Pass
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100
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58
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-
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80
|
100
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58
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-
|
80
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|
1-12-44
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Ora R.R. Bridge
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85
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-
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70
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90
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92.5
|
58
|
70
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85
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11-8-44
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Mitrovica
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0
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-
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-
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-
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61.7
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58
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70
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?
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11-20-44
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Doboj R.R. Bridge
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0
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100
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76
|
88
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46.2
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79
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73
|
?
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11-22-44
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Ferrara R.R. Bridge
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25
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-
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0
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75
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42
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79
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48.6
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83.?
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11-23-44
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Szenica R.R. Bridge
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94
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88
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100
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90
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50.7
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82
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61.5
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84.?
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Group Score for November 69.9%
ROLLAND R. CARR
Major, Air Corps.
Group Bombardier
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