B-24H serial 42-51078 was flying with the 93rd Bomb Group, 328th Squadron, on a bombing mission to Harburg on 17 January 1945. The aircraft carried a crew of 10 with no passengers. At 1212 hours over the target area, the aircraft received a flak hit in the bomb bay just before bombs away. Witnesses reported the bomb bay burned for approximately two minutes before exploding. The aircraft went into a dive and broke up completely. Eyewitness accounts from crews of the 44th Bomb Group varied on the number of parachutes observed: Lt. Daily reported three chutes, two of which were on fire; Lt. Erikson reported the aircraft broke up completely; Lt. Lowe reported seven chutes. The MACR confirmed parachutes were used. A German hospital document (Reserve-Lazarett V Hamburg, dated 19 January 1945) confirmed that three crew members — Bieber, Harth (Earth), and Schmidt — were admitted on 17 January 1945 with burns and contusions, having been transferred by the Reichsstatthalter Hamburg.
Mission 798
- Reveille
- 03:30
- Stations
- 06:45
- Takeoff
- 07:45
- Time Over Target
- 10:00
- Return Time
- 14:45
- Distance
- 1,200 nmi
- Fuel Aboard
- 2,500 gal
- Fuel Consumed
- 1,900 gal
- Cloud En-Route to Target
- Light stratus coverage (3/10) — mostly clear with scattered low cloud.
- Air Temp at Altitude
- -54 °F
- Lowest Temp
- -54 °F
- Wind Speed
- 68 kt
- Wind Direction
- 280°
- Bombing Altitude
- 23,000 ft
- Bombing Run Heading
- 126° True
- Forming Altitude
- 13,000 ft
- Fighter Cover
- 4 P-51, 1 P-47 groups
- Bombing Accuracy
- Very good
Heavy tracking flak changing to thick barrage
Each ship that lifted off, and the men aboard her.
▸ 1 ship carrying your selectionOn January 17th the briefing officer pulled back the curtain and the red line ran straight to Hamburg. The route went directly over the city, the fastest path through the flak area. The crew sweated the whole way to the target. The oil refinery at Harburg, just south of Hamburg, was the actual target. Their group came in behind the first wave, flew through the bomb cloud, dropped, and got out. Getting clear of Germany was another matter. The exit route crossed the Danish peninsula and out over the Frisian Islands, directly into the wind. Ground speed dropped to 80 miles per hour approaching the Kiel Canal. The flak found them there. Bursts lifted one wing and then the other, breaking the formation apart. By bombs away, only five of the original nine aircraft in the 330th Squadron were in any semblance of formation. They dropped and scattered. It was the coldest mission the crew had flown, the temperature recorded at minus 48 degrees Celsius. Two ships from the squadron were lost. One, flown by Gruener, was forced to divert to Sweden. The aircraft took several flak holes. Bombing results were assessed as very good.