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The Mighty Eighth -Sunday 28 January 1945 |
SUNDAY, 28 JANUARY 1945 EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO) STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 2 missions are flown. Mission 809: With the prospect of improved weather over Germany, 1,006 bombers and 249 fighters are dispatched to hit marshalling yards, bridges and benzol plants at Dortmund; 10 bombers are lost: 1. 225 B-24s are sent to hit oil targets at Kaiserstuhl (115) and Gneisenau (58); targets of opportunity are Lippstadt (9), Neheim (5) and other (11); bombing is by Gee-H; 7 B-24s are lost, 2 damaged beyond repair and 97 damaged; 2 airmen are KIA, 7 WIA and 71 MIA. Escorting are 68 of 77 P-51s. 2. 421 B-17s are sent to hit the Gremberg marshalling yard at Cologne (273) and the Hohenzollern Bridge at Cologne (69); secondary targets are Gutersloh (31) and Bielefeld (7); 3 others hit a target of opportunity; Gee-H and H2X radar are used to bomb; 3 B-17s are lost and 172 damaged; 4 airmen are WIA and 35 MIA. The escort is 69 of 76 P-51s. 3. 360 B-17s are dispatched to hit the Hohenbudberg marshalling yard (169) and Rheinhausen Bridge at Duisburg (80); 10 hit the secondary, the highway bridge at Duisburg; targets of opportunity are Friemersheim (13) and other (2); some targets are hit visually while others are hit using Micro H; 2 B-17s are damaged beyond repair and 195 damaged; 14 airmen are KIA and 20 WIA. 35 of 38 P-51s escort the B-17s. 4. 40 P-51s fly a sweep of the tactical area escorting Ninth AF B-26s. 5. 13 of 18 P-51s fly a scouting mission. Mission 810: 2 B-17s and 6 B-24s drop leaflets in the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Germany during the night. The 328th, 486th and 487th Fighter Squadrons, 352d Fighter Group, move from Bodney, England to Chievres, Belgium with P-51s (detachments have been operating from Asch, Belgium since 23 Dec 44). TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In Germany, 95 9th Bombardment Division B-26s hit a communications center at Mayen, rail bridges and an overpass at Eller, Sinzig, Remagen, and Kaiserslautern, targets of opportunity in W Germany, and fly cover for US First Army forces on the frontline in the Monschau-Butgenbach area. |