| 4. Leipzig, Germany - 08/16/44 - Our second raid into Germany had us all pretty much afraid due to the battle damage we had
received on the last mission, and since this was a deeper penetration to an oil plant we did not feel too happy that morning. We got up at 1:30 AM
for 3:00 briefing in our various briefing rooms, then took off at 6:00. As usual we entered through Holland and saw the same type of rockets from
the ground guns. As we got near our target, which was southeast of Leipzig, we could get the groups ahead of us getting caught in the flak barrage
over the city. When our turn came we were surprised and relieved to encounter very light flak over the target. What little we did see was at our
altitude but off to the right of us. Unger said he saw a B17 go down, but we never heard anything about it later on. The trip back was uneventful
with P51 and 47 protection all of the way and no enemy planes seen at any time. 5. Rechlin, Germany - 08/25/44 - Flew in to Germany to drop incendiary bombs on an airfield and seaplane base at Rechlin, Germany. After leaving the English coast our formation flew fairly low over the channel and into the North Sea where we began to climb in order to avoid the flak guns on Helgoland and Denmark. We were fired at while over Denmark, but the shots were few and wild. Entering Germany from the north we went past Rechlin as if we were going to Berlin, then turned and dropped our bombs on the field. There was a malfunction in our right bomb rack so LT Moller had to salvo those six mechanically. I honestly believed we made a far better hit since the lead bombardier released his bombs a few seconds early. From what the tail gunner said the target was really burning after we left. Saw very light flak over the target and no enemy fighters at any time thanks to our P51s. 6. Brest Peninsula, France - 09/03/44 - The CQ [Charge of Quarters] pushed us out of bed real early, we ate, were briefed, and were out at the plane before we finally woke up. It was a beautiful night with a full moon that made the night almost as light as day. Our job was to hit several German installations on the Brest peninsula, France. We flew over England parallel to the channel for a long time before starting our flight to France. Entering France over allied held territory near Cherbourg we flew into a solid layer of clouds which overhung the entire country. Although we were already flying around 12000 feet we went still lower in order to be able to bomb underneath the clouds. Soon we turned southwest and started on our bomb run. Boyce began to through out chaff and everyone became very wide awake as we passed the IP and the bomb bay doors were opened. We passed another group going the their way to prepare for a second run on the target since their bombardier had failed to release his bombs on the first run. Clouds kept drifting over our target, but luck was with us for just as the time came to drop the bombs a clear space appeared in the clouds which allowed the time for last minute corrections and an excellent pattern was the result. We then flew back across the channel and landed at the base at 1:00 PM. No enemy fighters were seen and we didn't run into any flak thanks to the chaff which had thrown the German radar sets off. The weather was quite cool and I flew the tail since Bohyer was flying as ball gunner with another crew. On the way over to Brest we flew right near |
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