Mission 623

Headed for Magdenburg, Germany - Aborted at German Border, No Credit

The second mission took the crew to Magdeburg. After leaving the target area the formation scattered, and though jets were spotted, none pressed an attack. The flak over the target was another matter: intense, accurate, and in volume. The lead group took the worst of it. Flying behind them, the crew watched as the bombs went away and then, almost immediately, three aircraft were hit and burning. They watched as the ships went down, trying to count parachutes. One aircraft had its bomb bay blazing like a torch. Only three chutes came out of it. Then a fourth man fell through the flames. Another, unable to get out through the bomb bay, climbed through the top hatch and came out nearly into the arc of his own aircraft's propeller. For a moment it seemed he wouldn't clear it. He did. He slipped past the tail and dropped away until his parachute opened in the sunlight below. Between two of the three ships, nineteen chutes were counted, with perhaps one man unaccounted for. The third ship accounted for an estimated six. Ralph later wrote: "I'll never again fail to return home, to count the holes, and try to get some sleep before tomorrow's mission." Their own aircraft came back without a flak hole and the crew unhurt. The navigator's log recorded the route in: Ostende, Ghent, Brussels, Liège, Cologne, Bonn, Giessen, Brunswick, and on to the target. Heavy flak was noted over Cette and Hannover as well. The return leg passed Nienburg, Dümmer Lake, and out over the Zuiderzee. By the log's count, 150 guns were active over the target and considered very accurate. Three ships lost. Twenty-nine men unaccounted for, nineteen confirmed to have bailed out. One aircraft had aborted before the target. Bombing results were recorded as poor, the target missed.