SUBJECT: B-17 Boomerang Barbara, mission 22. From William J. Watson's diary: March 3 Twenty second raid - Target BERLIN - We took off for the target. Went up to Denmark and made landfall. The weather was so bad we climbed to 29,000 ft. and still was in overcast so we had to turn back. We saw flak which was fairly accurate. No one was sorry to turn back. At Berlin there are 480 guns and 2000 fighters so you know why we didn't want to go. We still may have to make it but I hope not. It was 60 degrees below and we almost froze. From Albert Soriano's memoirs: Mission No. 22 Date Mar. 3, 1944 Target Berlin, Germany Time 3:27 Trip 6:30 hrs Altitude 24,600 to 30,000 Temp. (C) 51 below Damage Sixteen flak holes, three 20MM and one 30 MM holes. Memo We had been briefed for this target before, but this is the first time the 8th Air Force has officially bombed Berlin. We were the second US heavy bomber over Berlin. We had a lot of fighter opposition and a lot of heavy flak. Our oxygen system was pretty badly shot up, but all the sweating was worth it, because we hit what we were after. From James Baldock's flight log: No. XXIV - MARCH 3, 1944 Took off at 730 hrs. & had to land immediately because of gas leak. Took off again & climbed to 15000 ft. before leaving England. Left coast at 1000 hrs. and crossed North Sea gaining bombing altitude of 21000 ft. Just before we hit Heliogoland we had to climb to 29000 ft. to get above clouds. Entered north German coast and were about 20 minutes inland when we were recalled, thank God, just 30 minutes from target at Berlin. Left Germany & retraced route home. Encountered flak at a couple of places while entering Germany. 55 below at 29000 ft. Landed at base at 1400 hrs. No damage to crew or plane, except whole crew was scared & frozen stiff. One to go - Gulp. Total Time ... 159:45 PILOT - LT. Bailey, R.M. - B-17G - 120 From the Stars and Stripes newspaper: Fierce Battles Rage As Huge U.S. Force Dumps Tons on City -------- One Fort Division Fights Way In and Out Other Forts, Libs Meet Few Fighters; Flak Heavy; Weather Better -------- By Bud Hutton Stars and Stripes Staff Writer American heavy bombers attacked Berlin in force yesterday. With Saturday's attack by a single formation, it was the second U.S. blow in three days on the German capital, and the city's first major daylight assault. Flanked and covered by relays of Eighth and Ninth Air Force long- range fighters, the Liberators and Fortresses heaped high explosives and incendiaries on their Berlin targets with both visual and "cloud" technique bombing to smash the Nazis' last lingering hopes that any defense could stop the daylight bombers from destroying any objective in the whole Reich. One division of Fortresses had to slug its way with heavy losses almost every bit of the 600-mile route in to the city, while other divisions reported moderate to almost negligible fighter opposition. Virtually every bomber crew, however, told of intense walls of flak ringing the capital. There was no official announcement up to last midnight of American losses or claims, but it was expected that the number of bombers reported missing from the day's operations might be among the highest in Eighth Air Force history. A new record of enemy aircraft destroyed by the escorting fighters also was expected as intelligence officers checked claims and camera gun films. Mustangs, Thunderbolts and Lightnings, on preliminary reports, probably had out-scored the Nazis in the ratio of eight to one and had gone well over the previous single day's score of 61, established on Feb. 22. While the heavies and their escorts were completeing their seventh attack in eight days, a record force of nearly 300 Marauder mediums of the Ninth Air Force carried out heavy attacks on the Nazi airdrome at Beauvais- Tille and military objectives in the Pas de Calais area, all without loss. Sunday night, RAF Mosquitoes had kept the Nazi defenses strained by attacks on western Germany. With weather conditions obviously much improved over Saturday's when Fortresses dropped the first U.S. bombs on Berlin through almost solid six-mile cloud, Eighth Bomber Command ordered a major, although not record, force to go right back to the same target. It was scarcely noon when German radio stations began to describe "a gigantic air battle" raging over the Reich from the Zuyder Zee to the capital. Just before 1 PM the sirens began to sound in Berlin. A few hours later, however, when the blast of bombs and roar of incendiary-started fires had spread throughout the city, German news agencies put out an official statement admitting damage and casualties from bombs dropped "at random on several residential districts of the town." Nazi radio stations claimed the Forts and Libs were driven from their targets as they came over the central area of the city, but crews which returned jubilantly to their bases told of pushing home their attacks, in some cases with visual bombing. Bombardiers picked out individual targets which have survived the 27,000 tons of the RAF's last 15 raids by night and completed their runs while USSTAF fighters held off the Nazi interceptors. Some targets in the capital area were covered, however, and bombardiers used the "through-clouds" technique and could not report results. Crews from Fortress group commanded by Col. Edgar M. Wittan, of Newport News, Va., told of "almost endless fights with scores of German planes," and one B17 crew came home to report claims of eight enemy fighters destroyed as an index of the ferocity of the fighting. The interceptors were hurled at the massed bombers in units of ten and 20, crewmen said, and sometimes "there were 100 fighters coming at us at once," Lt. Col. Robert M. Tuttle, of Vallejo, Cal., who led one combat wing said. "We were under attack for five hours, and for two hours the assault was bold and vicious." Maj. Sammuel O. Davis, of Waban, Mass., who led a group in one attack on a Berlin area target, said "I've never seen such massed air strength as the bombers today. After assembling in line, all you could see was wave after wave of bombers. Wing upon wing swung in a great arc toward the targets in endless procession." Some groups reported as many as 300 fighters in the air around them at one time, with 30 to 60 fighters in single massed attacks on individual groups. As the bombers came home and the growing list of losses was clas- sified, it was obvious that once more the Nazis had tried to single out individual formations and concentrate their attacks on them, leaving other units to fly in and out of the Reich almost unmolested. Bombers from the Fortress group commanded by Col. Kermit D. Stevens, of Portland, Ore., and led yesterday by Maj. Richard H. Cole, of Elizabeth, N.J., reported no more than "25 or 30 enemy aircraft all day," made their bombing runs through ten-tenths cloud and came home without hinderance. First Mustang pilots back from the attack reported comparatively light opposition over some sections of the city, bearing out bomber crews' stories of varying resistance. Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. James Doolittle, Eight Bomber chief, sent to Maj. Gen. Lewis H. Brereton, Ninth Air Force leader, congratulations and appreciation for the escort work of the Ninth fighters: "During the past five days your fighter units have escorted the heavy bombers of this Air Force in a series of penetrations into German territory. These heavy bomber attacks have been increased in effectiveness and our losses greatly reduced by the magnificent support your fighters have rendered. Would you please convey to the pilots and the ground crews of the units concerned my sincere appreciation for the splendid work they have done in our behalf." Adding his own appreciation to the message, Gen. Brereton sent it on to Ninth Fighter Command groups. The Berlin assault came after Liberators had pulled Nazi defenses back west with a daylight stab on Sunday to the southwest of France, where they bombed the Luftwaffe base at Cognac, from which many of the long-range anti-convoy raiders take off. Other fields at Bergerac and vicinity also were pounded, while Mustangs, Thunderbolts and Lightnings ran up a 14 to 5 score against German fighters. Thirteen enemy aircraft were shot down by bomber gunners. Four U.S. bombers were lost. --------- Three U.S. Bombers Down in Sweden STOCKHOLM, Mar. 6 (AP)--Three American heavy bombers made forced landings at an airport in southern Sweden today and their crews were interned, bringing the total of American airmen in Sweden to about 130. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ "The 8th Air Force launched its first attack into the Berlin area on 3 March with the intension of hitting the VKF ball bearing plant at Erkner, the Robert Bosch electrical works at Klein Machnow and the Heinkel aircraft factory at Oranienburg. But on this occasion weather protected the target far more effectively than could the Luftwaffe: over Germany the bombers encoun- tered dense cloud with tops extending above 28,000 feet in places; formation flying became almost impossible and the mission had to be abandoned." _Target_Berlin_ by Jeffery L. Ethell and Alfred Price +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ -- ************************************************************ 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 S t. (Alternate) Columbus, OH 43213 Phone: (614)692-3836 Fax: (614)692-9731