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The Mighty Eighth - Thursday, 8 March 1945 |
| THURSDAY, 8 MARCH 1945 EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO) STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 3 missions are flown. Mission 872: 1,353 bombers and 326 fighters are dispatched to hit benzol plants, an oil plant and rail targets in Germany using PFF; NO AIRCRAFT ARE LOST AND THERE ARE NO CASUALTIES! 1. 360 B-24s are sent to hit marshalling yards at Betzdorf (70), Siegen (114) and Dillenburg (73); targets of opportunity are Limburg (10) and Frankfurt (10); bombing is by H2X radar; 3 B-24s are damaged. Escorting are 99 of 102 P-51s. 2. 526 B-17s are dispatched to hit the Robert Muser (99) and Bruchstrasse (63) benzol plants at Langendreer, the Gneisenau benzol plant at Dortmund (110) and Heddernheim chemical factory at Frankfurt (122); secondary targets are the marshalling yards at Giessen (69) and Frankfurt (18); 13 others hit Wetzlar, a target of opportunity; bombing is with H2X radar; 26 B-17s are damaged. The escort is 95 of 99 P-51s. 3. 458 B-17s are sent to hit the Emil benzol plant at Essen (114), the Mathies Stinnes benzol plant at Bottrop (37), the August Viktoria benzol plant at Huls (111) and the synthetic oil plant at Buer Scholren (75); 109 hit the marshalling yard at Essen, a target of opportunity; bombing is by Micro-H; 1 B-17 is damaged beyond repair. 93 of 98 P-51s escort. 4. 9 B-17s fly a screening mission. 5. 27 P-51s fly a scouting mission. Mission 873: 11 B-24s drop leaflets in France, the Netherlands and Germany during the night without loss. Mission 874: 15 B-24s attack the marshalling yard at Dortmund during the night without loss and 4 of 7 B-24s fly CARPETBAGGER missions. TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): 328 B-26s, A-20s and A-26s hit 7 communications centers, 2 marshalling yards, a road overpass, and a military transport depot in the furtherance of the interdiction program; weather prevents fighter operations except for a small alert mission by the XXIX Tactical Air Command (Provisional). Operational HQ of the XXIX Tactical Air Command (Provisional), HQ 84th Fighter Wing and HQ 303d Fighter Wing move from Maastricht, the Netherlands to Monchen-Gladbach, Germany; the detachments of the 39th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, 10th Photographic Group (Reconnaissance) operating from Gosselies and Le Culot, Belgium with F-5s, return to base at Jarny, France. |