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The Mighty Eighth - Saturday, 31 March 1945 |
| SATURDAY, 31 MARCH 1945 EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO) STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 920: 1,348 bombers and 889 fighters are dispatched to hit synthetic oil plants, a refinery, munitions plant and tank factory; they claim 9-3-9 Luftwaffe aircraft; 5 bombers and 4 fighters are lost: 1. 229 B-17s are sent to hit the synthetic oil refinery at Zeitz using H2X radar; secondary targets hit are the oil plant at Bad Berka (29) and Gotha (20) visually; targets of opportunity are Erfurt (25) and other (8), hit visually; 3 B-17s are lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 108 damaged; 1 airman is KIA; 2 WIA and 30 MIA. Escorting are 117 of 120 P-51s; 1 is lost (pilot MIA). 2. 294 B-17s are sent to hit Brandenburg (265); targets of opportunity are Stendal (9) and Salzwedel (9); they claim 0-1-0 aircraft; 1 B-17 is damaged. 207 of 221 P-51s escort claiming 5-0-0 aircraft; 1 P-51 is lost (pilot MIA). 3. 371 of 385 B-24s hit the secondary target, the marshalling yard at Brunswick; they claim 3-2-1 aircraft; 2 B-24s are lost, 3 damaged beyond repair and 3 damaged; 10 airmen are KIA, 1 WIA and 29 MIA. The escort is 253 of 266 P-47s and P-51s; they claim 0-0-7 aircraft; 2 P-51s are lost (pilots MIA). 4. 369 of 432 B-17s attack the secondary, the marshalling yard at Halle; targets of opportunity are Leipzig (8), Weimar (36), Aschersleben (7) and other (1); 37 B-17s are damaged. Escorting are 225 of 233 P-51s. 5. 8 B-17s fly a screening mission. 6. 26 of 30 P-51s fly scouting missions; they claim 1-0-1 aircraft. 7. 19 P-51s escort 8 of 10 F-5s on photo reconnaissance missions. TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In Germany, 550+ A-20s, A-26s and B-26s hit storage depots at Ebrach, Wurzburg, and Marienburg, the marshalling yard at Wurzburg, the town area of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, and a target of opportunity; fighters escort the bombers, hit special targets, fly armed reconnaissance, and support the US 3d and 9th Armored Divisions near Paderborn, the XII Corps as it charges toward Eisenach, the XX Corps along the Fulda and Eder Rivers, and the XVI and XIX Corps S of Haltern and NW of Lippstadt. The 162d Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, 363d Tactical Reconnaissance Group [attached to Reconnaissance Group (Provisional), XII Tactical Air Command], moves from Azelot to Haguenau, France with F-6s. |