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The Mighty Eighth - Saturday, 10 February, 1945 |
SATURDAY, 10 FEBRUARY 1945 EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO) STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 2 missions are flown. Mission 825: 9 of 164 B-17s carry out the first DISNEY mission (Royal Navy rocket-boosted concrete piercing bombs) against the U-boat pens at Ijmuiden, the Netherlands visually; 140 hit the secondary target, the oil storage depot at Dulmen, Germany using Micro H; and 1 hits Lingen, a target of opportunity; 5 B-17s fly a screening mission; 5 B-17s are damaged. Escorting are 102 of 106 P-51s without loss. 3 of 6 P-51s fly a scouting mission and 20 of 21 P-51s escort photo reconnaissance aircraft over Germany. 102 of 104 P-51s fly a strafing mission in the Steinhuder Lake area but abort because of bad weather; 2 P-51s are lost. Mission 826: 1 B-17 and 11 of 12 B-24s drop leaflets in the Netherlands and Germany during the night; 1 airman is KIA. TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In Germany, 320+ bombers of the 9th Bombardment Division attack communications centers at Kempen, Horrem, and Euskirchen, vehicle center and depot at Munstereifeland at Berg-Gladbach, and several casual targets including rail bridge at Bullay; fighters escort the bombers, fly patrols and armed reconnaissance, bomb bridges, attack railroad cars and other targets, and support the US VIII and XII Corps in the Prum area on the Prum River and in the bridgehead area E of the Sauer River NW of Echternach, Luxembourg. In France, HQ 416th Bombardment Group (Light) and the 668th and 670th Bombardment Squadrons (Light) move from Melun to Athies Airfield, Laon with A-26s; the 39th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, Ninth AF, based at St Amand with F-5s, sends a flight to operate from Jarny (another flight is at Le Culot, Belgium). |