381st Bombardment Group Mission #178 – Neubrandenburg, Germany (8/25/44) 381st BG diary entry: The Neubrandenburg airfield was the target August 25 and 37 of our aircraft were assigned to the mission with Capt. Douglas L. Winter in the lead ship. Winter had just taken over the leadership of the 534th Squadron after Major Briggs (and Major Bullick) had left for the States on leave. It was a cloudy morning but the clouds disappeared when the formations reached the German coast at Kiel. It was clear over the target although some of the crews reported seeing several red and purple bursts. There were no enemy aircraft. The Fortresses made an unmolested run and the bombing was excellent for the low group and good for the lead and high groups. On the way home the formations caught flak at Peenemunde, but it was meager and inaccurate. All our aircraft returned safely. 532nd BS diary entry: The airfield at Nuebrandenburg was todays target, as nine ships of our squadron led by Capt McNeill took off at 09.00 hrs. Bombing results were reported as good. No opposition was met, but flak was accurate and continuously pointed. Our other pilots were: Lts Morgan, La Pierre, Devenish, Worrell, Miller, Sunderland, Copeland, Nashold and Scurlock. 533rd BS diary entry: A Focke-Wulf assembly plant at Neubrandenberg, Germany, was the target of a formation consisting of 37 aircraft of the 381st dispatched today, taking off at 13.30 hrs. Neubrandenberg is north of Berlin near Anklam, and the target itself is situated at the edge of a wood, giving it effective concealment from aerial observation. The group was led by Capt Douglas L. Winters, who reported flak was meagre and no enemy aircraft were encountered. Bombardiers believed our pattern was not concentrated on the MPI, and results termed as Fair. This squadron put up ten aircraft, the pilots being: Lts Masterson, Gotthardt, Pearce, Rolin, Kinney, Tolchinsky, Gills, Cochran, Berkley and Ogle. 534th BS diary entry: The airfield at Neubrandenburg, Germany was attacked by 7 of our ships today. Bombing results were reported as excellent. No fighter opposition and only meager flak was encountered. Under command of Captains Winter and Kesley – the following attacked the target and completed the mission successfully: Lt. Cronin with Lt. Martyniak, Lt. Murphy, Lt. Bjorness, Lt. Fine, Lt. Smith, Lt. Black, Lt. Williams. 1st Lts Edwin M. Switzer, and Robert P. Burrell completed their tour today. S/Sgt. John J. Kukasik completed his tour also. All men hold the DFC, the Air Medal and three Oak Leaf Clusters. 535th BS diary entry: Our Forts took off at 08.30 hrs today for an attack on the Focke-Wulf assembly plant located on the edge of a wood on the north of the airfield at Neubrandenburg, near the western Baltic Sea. Flak was moderate to meagre going in and none of it was aimed at our formation. Weather was fair but there were some clouds and haze. The escort was perfect and the bombing believed to be PA2, with some patterns a bit of centre, but the location of the target, with the camouflaging effect of the woods, made accurate observation of results difficult. These nine pilots participated: Lts Demagalski, Stallings, Stuart, Long, Tuz, Jarvill, Davison, Todd and Simmons.
Posted on: Sat, 30 Aug 2014 13:06:35 +0000
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