Mission Details for Merseburg (#168)

Briefing

Details

Number: 168
Date: 11/8/1944 12:00:00 AM
Commander: Maj. L. Stann
Crews Briefed: 41
Details: I. G. Farben synthetic oil plant

Flying Control

Runway: 6
Engines: 0640 Thumbnail image for /Images/Takeoff/Plan06.jpg
Taxi: 0655
Take Off:
E.T.R.:
Notes: Briefing took place at 0430 hours. While one ship was unable to take off, all others were airborne by 0741 hours. One spare returned early, and another aborted with its bombs aboard. By 1602 hours all but two operational aircraft had returned, and at 1604 hours one of the two was reported to have landed at Framlingham.

Debriefing

Aircraft: 41
Lost Over Continent: 1
Lost Other: 0
Summary: The 401st put up the three squadrons comprising the 94th Combat Wing "A" Group on this mission. Once again heavy cloud cover made it necessary to bomb by PFF (Radar), with unobserved results. No enemy fighters were encountered, but the flak was accurate and fairly intense. As a result, two Group aircraft received major battle damage, 23 others had minor damage, and one aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing in Belgium. This aircraft, No. 43-37736 ("Little Pedro"), piloted by Lt. Richard L. Steele, was hit by flak just before bombs away. Two engines were knocked out, several of the crew were wounded, and the flak caused a fire in the cockpit. Despite the damage, Lt. Steele was able to bring the ship down at an airfield being used RAF fighters near Brussels. The ship was beyond repair, but the crew were all returned to Deenethorpe safely.

Mission Assignments

Squadron Participants