Posted for Mike Fitch SUBJECT: B-17 Boomerang Barbara, mission 20. From William J. Watson's diary: February 29 Twentieth raid - Target Brunswick - This time was not like before. We saw no fighters and very little flak. We dropped our bombs on target. Excellant fighter support. From Albert Soriano's memoirs: Mission No. 20 Date Feb. 29, 1944 Target Brunswick, Germany Time 2:57 Trip 7:00 hrs. Altitude 25,800 Temp. (C) 44 below Damage None Memo It seems as though this is our hard luck target. The last time we were here, our ship got shot up so bad and our nerves so shaken up, that we were sent to a rest home, in the English country side for nine days. This time we had it better, but still our left wing man was shot up pretty bad. We had a lot of fighter opposition we lost three planes, lets not forget, that is 30 men. From James Baldock's flight log: No. XXII - Feb. 29, 1944 Took off at 630 hrs. & climbed to bombing altitude of 22000 ft. before leaving England. Crossed North Sea, entered Holland, crossed Zuider Zee, and finally entered Germany. Bombs away at 1115 hrs. over Brunswick, Germany through 10/10's cloud. Left target and retraced route home. No fighters this time due to excellant escort by P-47's, P-51's, & P-38's. Encountered scat- tered flak to and from target, & over target not very accurate heavy flak. Landed at base at 1330 hrs. No damage to crew or plane. Fourty-two below. Chilly. Total Time ... 148:00 PILOT - LT. Bailey, R.M. - B-17G - 120 From a local British newspaper: Luftwaffe Up 1st Time in Week To Battle Heavies as Forts, Libs Hit Brunswick in Central Reich ------------ 3 Bombers Are Lost; U.S. Fighters Bag 36, Lose 5 ------------ Flying Fortresses and Liberators stormed back to central Germany in daylight yesterday and for the first time since last Wednesday the Luftwaffe came up to fight. Striking into the heart of the Reich only 120 miles short of Berlin, the heavies rained their loads of bombs on Brunswick, important aircraft center and site of other war plants producing tractors, light tanks and internal-combustion engines. Only three bombers were lost as the medium-sized force of heavies pierced Nazi defenses on their 11th operation of the month, a rate which would exceed February's record of 19 if maintained for the second half of this month. Reluctant Luftwaffe As the Forts and Libs pushed through almost solid cloud to the target the Luftwaffe rose from the ground but was apparently reluctant to close with strong forces of the Eighth and Ninth Air Forces P47s and P38s which escorted the bombers. Escorting U.S. fighters, described by some airmen as the strongest force they had ever seen, shot down 36 enemy planes. Only five U.S. fighters did not return. At a late hour last night a final tabulation of Nazi aircraft destroyed by bomber crews had not been compiled. Few of the enemy fighters were able to pierce the cordon thrown around the bombers by the large escort. Some U.S. airmen reported seeing numerous German fighters while others, describing the mission as a milk run, said they saw practically none. Capt. Robert Johnson, fighter group leader, became the leading U.S. fighter ace in the theater yesterday when he shot down three German planes, boosting his score to 22, two more than Capt. Walker Mahurin, who went scoreless yesterday. Johnson's promotion to captain was waiting for him when he returned from yesterday's mission. Johnson's fighter group shot down 25 Germans. No Battle in Several Raids On Mar. 9, in the last Berlin attack some bomber crews reported sighting small elements of Nazi fighters, but there was no serious opposition, nor was there when Forts went to Munster without lose on the 11th and Liberators bombed the Pas de Calais on the 11th and 12th. Again on the 13th, when a small force of B17s went to the so-called rocket coast, there was no interception. While the heavies and their escorts were striking the Reich yes- terday, Marauder medium bombers swept against three targets across the Channel--the airfield at Chievres, railway yards and locomotive works at Haine St. Pierre and switching yards at Aulnoy, four miles south of Amiens, through which funnels rail traffic bound to the Channel ports of Dunkirk and Calais. None of the B24s was lost. The B17s and 24s were scarcely over Germany yesterday when Nazi broadcasters began to describe "violent air battles" in "cloudy conditions over western and northwestern Germany." Pointing out that weather conditions had hampered their intercep- tors, the Nazi radio stations declared that "nonetheless a number of U.S. airplanes were brought down in aerial combats." Crews said few enemy fighters penetrated to the heavy formations. "A formation of about 40 FW190s dived in to attack a formation in our rear, but P47s and P38s intercepted them," reported S/Sgt. Edward E. Lanier, B17 waist gunner from Warm Springs, Ga. "Several of the FWs went down in flames." 2/Lt. Murray W. Cole, of Greeley, Colo., Fortress navigator, said he saw only 15 fighters, which came up through the undercast and were immediately dispersed by Lightnings. Enemy ground defenses included ground rockets and parachute bombs, said S/Sgt. Virgil R. Brown, of Kingfisher, Okla., waist gunner on the B17 Wacky. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ "One day we came back with four hundred twenty-two holes in the airplane, but it had been flying fine," Moore recalls. "Of course, the B-17 was one of the sturdiest planes ever built. The B-24, for example, wouldn't take as much as the 17. With the Fort, all the control cables were electric, and redundant to boot--the gear, the flaps, everything. On the 24, the controls were hydraulic and if you got one hole in them, that was it." _Pilots_ by William Neely +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ If my mail server is working: nrm1853@rserver3.dsac.dla.mil -- ******************************************************************** Adam R. Fathauer * E-Mail: fathauer@gsimail.ddn.mil * GSI c/o DSAC-R * (Preffered) * BLDG 27 Sect 3 * x400.fathauer@wcsmvs.infonet.com * 3990 East Broad St. * (Alternate) * Columbus, OH 43213 * Phone: (614)692-3836 * * Fax: (614)692-9731 *