12 SEPTEMBER 1944 · TUESDAYBombed Primary
Mission 626.Kiel.
Kiel, Germany
Intended Target
Kiel
Kiel, Germany
Operating Group
93rd BG
2BD
Aircraft Effective
58 / 241
effective / dispatched
Bomb Tonnage
149.5
tons
The cost.
§ Outcome
0
Ships Aborting
0
Ships Lost
0
Men Bailed Out
0
Men Lost
Operational data.
§ From the Debrief
Times & Distance
Reveille
03:00
Stations
07:00
Takeoff
07:35
Form-Up
06:45
Time Over Target
08:30
Return Time
13:25
Distance
1,200 nmi
Fuel Aboard
2,700 gal
Fuel Consumed
1,700 gal
Weather
Cloud En-Route to Target
Low stratocumulus clouds along the route; skies cleared at the target, allowing visual bombing.
Lowest Temp
-2 °F
Wind Speed
35 kt
Wind Direction
140°
Bombing & Defense
Bombing Altitude
23,000 ft
Bombing Run Heading
182° True
Forming Altitude
7,000 ft
Fighter Cover
3 P-51 groups
Bombing Accuracy
Complete destruction of 5 of 6 buildings at target
Flak
A few bursts from Heligoland; otherwise none
The formation.
29 aircraft · tap a ship for its crew
P1Lt Walter F. Hughes
CP2Lt Peter Scott
N2Lt Louis H. Windsor
B2Lt Ralph Hendershot
E-TTSgt Conway Thorstenson
ROT/Sgt Norbert L. Ecclesfield
WGSgt Michael J. Kusnir
TGSgt Boyd L. Justice
NGSgt Robert T. Lee
GSgt Carroll F. Ruby
The third mission came the very next day, September 12th. The target was a small oil refinery at Hemmingstedt in Schleswig-Holstein. Pete Scott didn't fly; he had been assigned Officer of the Day. The route took the crew up the North Sea, bombing south to north, which put them heading toward the Frisian Islands on the way home. A few bursts came up from Heligoland, but no flak reached them and no fighters appeared. All aircraft returned without damage. Five of the six refinery buildings were assessed as destroyed. It was, by the crew's own reckoning, the easiest mission of the early tour.
Sources.
§ Provenance
2nd Air Division · 2nd Air Division Digital Archive · 1944
Official record
Mighty Eighth War Diary
Roger A Freeman · Jane's Publishing Company Limited · 1981
Published