Mission Date: March 10, 1945
DORTMUND, MY
100th BG Mission #: 276
Mission Summary
ON THIS DAY...MARCH 10, 1945
With the 418th on a Squadron Stand Down, crews across the remaining Squadron areas were awakened for the 0615 briefing. The 100th would fly to Dortmund, where they were to attack the marshaling yards.
The 13th Wing would fly third in the Division line with the 100th BG leading its Wing. The 95th BG would fly as the ‘B’ group and the 390th as the ‘C.’
Leading the 100th’s formation of three squadrons would be the 100th’s Commander, Frederick Sutterlin, flying with Gerald Brown. The High squadron would be lead by Gibbons/Ellis and the Low by Albrecht/Rayford. In addition, the 100th would contribute another six aircraft and crews to fly in a composite group formation with the 95th who only had thirty aircraft available for the mission.
Loaded up with forty-two 100 lb GP bombs and five 500 lb M-17 incendiaries, the ships took off with just a few clouds over the base, assembling without incident. Soon, a 10/10 undercast was encountered and remained throughout the entire route.
As the Division line crossed the Zuider Zee, the 388th BG, last group of 45th Wing, lagged behind its formation, getting in the way of the 100th at the turn at the pre IP and forcing the formation off the briefed route and over an inaccurate flak area. Corrections were made and the formation was shortly back on the briefed route, receiving no damage.
As they neared the target, enemy fighters had been seen and the P-51 escort fighters were called in. Bombardier Fitzgerald in the William Wilson Crew recorded, “Fighters were reported in the area but were too busy fighting with our fighters to bother us.”
Over Dortmund, individual squadron runs were made on the primary target, where the flak was recorded as “meager to moderate, inaccurate, tracking and barrage.” With squadron altitudes separated by just five hundred feet, the Lead bombed from 24000 at 1234 hours, the ‘B’ from 24500 at 1235 and the Low from 23500 at 1252 hours. Over the target, problems with the bomb rack in the Low squadron’s bomber #841, caused a failure to release, with the bombs “falling through bomb bay doors at 1252 hours.”
Flying his #9 mission with Bernard Painter’s crew, TG Donald Becker tells us, “The trip was mostly uneventful with 10/10 layered clouds beneath us - an ideal cover for fighters-but our support was close so we had none-tho the call was sounded…We got flak all the way in from the I.P. but it was inaccurate all the way-we turned onto the target & bombs were away - but ours were hung up - 2 500’s and 11 100’s were still in the bays-they were getting our range & despite all efforts to salvo them they wouldn’t come out - so the door were closed & we scrammed - our troops being so close we couldn’t do anything but bring them back - all the weight was a terrific drain on our gas load so we just made it back with a few gallons left. Herby (Herbert Singer TOG) had to put the safety keys back in the bombs while we were still at attitude & almost passed out several times from lack of oxygen ’cause he was sucking the hose - but outside of turning green & getting weak he got the job down with the aid of Downing & Mac. (Virgil Downing TTE and Arthur MacNeil ROG)”
After bombs away, the Rally Point was made good, with the formation crossing the Continental Coast at 1432 hours, having let down to seven thousand feet. Landing at 1600 hours, after flying a six and one-half hour mission with four and one-half hours on oxygen, all ships and crews returned safely from the mission with no battle damage. Donald Becker came back to his barracks after interrogation where he ended his mission diary entry with, “We landed at our Base instead of France by stretching the gas supply & were interrogated, came back to the barracks & found 30 letters waiting for me - God! was I happy!! Read entranced for over 2 hours & went to bed.”
That evening the red light was back on and a mission was on for the next day.
Bombing Results
Bombing Results: FAIR
Aircraft Lost: 0
Crew Lost: 0
Claims of Enemy Losses (CLS): 0
Aircraft Returned:
