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The Mighty Eighth - Friday, 9 March 1945 |
| FRIDAY, 9 MARCH 1945 EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO) STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 2 missions are flown. Mission 875: 1,045 bombers and 443 fighters are dispatched to hit marshalling yards and industrial plants in Germany; they claim 0-0-2 Luftwaffe aircraft; 7 bombers are lost: 1. 423 B-17s are sent to hit the Ost (150) and Main (222) marshalling yards and a casting plant (38) at Frankfurt visually and using Micro H, H2X radar and smoke markers; 6 B-17s also fly a screening mission; 3 B-17s are lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 182 damaged; 7 airmen are WIA and 28 MIA. Escorting are 94 of 101 P-51s; they claim 0-0-1 aircraft in the air. 2. 318 of 336 B-17s attack the marshalling yard and a large tank factory at Kassel visually; 6 other B-17s fly a screening mission; 3 B-17s are lost, 2 damaged beyond repair and 188 damaged; 4 airmen are WIA and 28 MIA. The escort is 97 of 99 P-51s; 1 is damaged beyond repair. 3. 282 B-24s are sent to bomb marshalling yards at Munster (97), Rheine (93) and Osnabruck (87) using Gee-H and H2X; 1 B-24 is lost and 52 damaged; 1 airman is WIA and 12 MIA. 47 of 51 P-51s escort. 4. 4 B-17s fly a scouting mission. 5. 141 P-47s and P-51s fly a freelance sweep in support of the bombers; 1 P-51 is damaged beyond repair. 6. 27 P-51s fly a scouting mission. 7. 15 P-51s escort 12 F-5s and 3 Spitfires on a photo reconnaissance mission over Germany; they claim 0-0-1 aircraft in the air. Mission 876: 11 B-24s drop leaflets in the Netherlands, France and Germany during the night; and 2 of 9 B-24s fly CARPETBAGGER missions. TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In Germany, 600+ A-20s, A-26s and B-26s hit 6 marshalling yards, storage and vehicle depots, ammunition-filling plants, and 12 targets of opportunity as part of the interdiction campaign; fighters fly armed reconnaissance, hit special targets, cover the Remagen bridgehead and support the US 9th Infantry and 9th Armored Divisions committed there, support the 4th Armored Division at the Mosel River bridge at Treis, the XX Corps along the Mosel and Saar Rivers, and the XVI Corps along the Rhine River near Wesel. The 125th Liaison Squadron, IX Fighter Command [attached to the XXIX Tactical Air Command (Provisional)], moves from Maastricht, the Netherlands to Monchen-Gladbach, Germany with L-5s; and the 153d Liaison Squadron, IX Tactical Air Command (attached to Twelfth Army Group), moves from Spa, Belgium to Duren, Germany with L-5s. |