Mission 883

The March 12th mission was a Russian ground support operation. The briefing map showed the red line running clear around Germany, up the Baltic between Germany and Sweden, all the way to Swinemunde on the Baltic coast, where German primary flight training schools were located. The route took the B-24s over nine hours in the air, the B-17s nearly ten. Flying up through the Baltic, the crew spotted six submarines near Kiel. Flak at the target was meager. No fighters appeared. By the time the last aircraft dropped, not a bomb remained in the entire force. At 2,040 nautical miles, it was the longest mission the crew had flown. Sweden was visible from altitude.