|
||
The Mighty Eighth - Tuesday, 20 March 1945 |
| TUESDAY, 20 MARCH 1945 EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO) STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 3 missions are flown. Mission 898: 451 bombers and 355 fighters are dispatched to hit the shipyard and dock area at Hamburg and an oil refinery; they claim 14-3-17 Luftwaffe aircraft; 4 bombers and 2 P-51s are lost: 1. 13 of 152 B-17s hit the Blohm & Voss U-boat yard at Hamburg; 133 others hit the secondary, the port area at Hamburg; bombing is visual; they claim 1-0-3 aircraft; 1 airman is KIA and 2 WIA. Escorting are 70 of 79 P-51s; they claim 0-0-2 aircraft. 2. 149 of 162 B-17s hit the secondary target, the Hamburg port area, using H2X radar; 1 other hits the Nordholz Airfield, a target of opportunity; they claim 5-3-2 aircraft; 3 B-17s are lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 54 damaged; 27 airmen are MIA. The escort is 72 of 75 P-51s; they claim 0-0-2 aircraft. 3. 114 of 129 B-24s attack the oil refinery at Hemmingstedt; 1 B-24 is lost and 9 damaged; 12 airmen are MIA. 75 P-51s escort; they claim 2-0-1 aircraft in the air and 1-0-2 on the ground; 1 P-51 is lost (pilot MIA). 4. 6 B-17s fly a screening mission without loss. 5. 2 B-17s and 26 of 27 P-51s fly scouting missions. 6. 78 of 82 P-51s fly a strafing mission in the Bremen-Hannover area; they claim 2-0-3 aircraft in the air and 3-0-2 on the ground; 1 P-51 is lost (pilot MIA). 7. 17 P-51s escort 11 F-5s and 2 Spitfires on photo reconnaissance missions over Germany. Mission 899: 1 B-17, escorted by 4 P-51s, bombs Oberursel at 1650 hours from 25,000 feet (7,620 m); this is the first operational test of Micro-H Mk II radar. Mission 900: 12 B-24s drop leaflets in the Netherlands and Germany and 2 A-26s fly CARPETBAGGER missions (1 A-26 is lost). TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In Germany, 360+ A-20s, A-26s, and B-26s bomb the Geisecke marshalling yard, Sythen ammunition-filling plant, the town of Gronau (including a rail bridge), and several casual targets in or near 9 other towns; fighters escort the bombers, fly patrols and armed reconnaissance, support the US III and VII Corps just E of the Rhine River between Bad Honningen and the Sieg River, and the XII and XX Corps as they push to the Rhine River at Worms and at a point N of Mannheim. |