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The Mighty Eighth -Wednesday, 18 April 1945 |
| WEDNESDAY, 18 APRIL 1945 EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO) AIRBORNE OPERATIONS (IX Troop Carrier Command): HQ 349th Troop Carrier Group and the 23d, 312th, 313th and 314th Troop Carrier Squadrons move from Barkston, England to Amy Airfield, Roye, France with C-47s. STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 2 missions are flown. Mission 959: 767 bombers and 705 fighters are dispatched to hit rail targets in Czechoslovakia and SE Bavaria; they claim 16-0-14 Luftwaffe aircraft; 2 B-17s and 2 P-51s are lost: 1. 174 B-17s hit the secondary target, the marshalling yard at Straubing without loss. 99 P-51s escort. 2. 121 B-17s are dispatched to hit the marshalling yard at Kollin (97); 21 others hit the secondary, the marshalling yard at Pilsen; 1 B-17 is damaged beyond repair and 17 damaged; 10 airmen are MIA. The escort is 157 of 160 P-51s; they claim 3-0-4 aircraft in the air; 1 P-51 is lost (pilot MIA). 3. 196 B-24s are sent to hit the marshalling yard (166) and rail bridge and rail industry (28) at Passau without loss. Escorting are 240 P-47s and P-51s; they claim 12-0-8 aircraft on the ground; 1 P-51 is lost (pilot MIA). 4. 276 B-17s are sent to hit electrical transformers (9) and marshalling yard (56) at Traunstein and marshalling yard and electrical transformers at Rosenheim (148); 61 hit the secondary, the marshalling yard at Freising; no losses or casualties. 139 of 150 P-51s escort. 5. 101 of 103 P-51s escort Ninth AF B-26s claiming 1-0-2 aircraft in the air. 6. 27 P-51s fly scouting missions. 7. 15 of 17 P-51s escort 11 of 13 F-5s on photo reconnaissance missions over Germany. Mission 960: During the night of 18/19 Apr, 11 B-24s drop leaflets in France, the Netherlands and Germany and 17 of 18 B-24s fly CARPETBAGGER missions to Denmark and Norway. TACTICAL OPERATIONS First Tactical Air Force (Provisional): HQ 86th Fighter Group and 525th Fighter Squadron move from Tantonville, France to Braunschardt, Germany with P-47s. Ninth Air Force: In Germany, about 590 B-26s, A-26s, and A-20s attack oil storage at Neuburg an der Donau, marshalling yards at Juterbog and Nordlingen, and rail junctions at Falkenburg and Juterbog; fighters escort the bombers, fly patrols, sweeps, and armed reconnaissance, attack assigned targets, and support ground forces including the US V Corps assaulting Leipzig, the VII Corps in the Dessau-Halle areas, the 5th Armored Division near Steimke, and the 2d Armored Division at Magdeburg and other XIX Corps elements astride the Elbe River S of Barby; organized German resistance in the Ruhr pocket ceases. The 492d Fighter Squadron, 48th Fighter Group, moves from Kelz to Kassel, Germany with P-47s. |