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The Mighty Eighth - Wednesday, 28 March 1945 |
| WEDNESDAY, 28 MARCH 1945 EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO) AIRBORNE OPERATIONS (IX Troop Carrier Command): The 29th Troop Carrier Squadron, 313th Troop Carrier Group, moves from Folkingham, England to Achiet, France with C-47s. STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 917: 965 B-17s and 390 P-51s are dispatched to hit industrial targets in Berlin and Hannover; 10/10 cloud cover forces the B-17s to bomb using H2X radar; 2 B-17s are lost: 1. 446 B-17s are dispatched to hit the Spandau tank factory (318) and Falkensee armament plant (65) in Berlin; 6 hit Stendal, the secondary; targets of opportunity are Hannover (1) and other (21); 2 B-17s are lost, 5 damaged beyond repair and 133 damaged; 1 airman is KIA, 8 WIA and 19 MIA. Escorting are 245 of 272 P-51s. 2. 519 B-17s are sent to hit the Hanomag tank factory at Hannover (34); 431 hit the secondary, the marshalling yard at Hannover; targets of opportunity are Minden (10) and other (5); 66 B-17s are damaged; 3 airmen are WIA. 86 of 99 P-51s escort. 3. 8 of 9 P-51s escort 3 F-5s on photo reconnaissance missions over Germany. 4. 6 of 10 P-51s fly scouting missions. TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In Germany, 215 A-20s, A-26s and B-26s hit the Neuenheerse and Erbach oil storage depots and 11 targets of opportunity; fighters escort the bombers, fly armed reconnaissance and area cover over wide expanses of German territory, and support the US XII Corps in breakout attacks across the Main River in the Dornigheim area and the 2d and 8th Armored Divisions in the Dorsten area. HQ 36th Fighter Group and the 22d and 23d Fighter Squadrons move from Le Culot, Belgium to Aachen, Germany with P-47s; and the 31st Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, 10th Photographic Group (Reconnaissance), moves from Jarny, France to Euren, Germany with F-5s. |