Mission Date: March 11, 1945
HAMBURG, OIL REFINERY (S.T.)
100th BG Mission #: 277
Mission Summary
ON THIS DAY...MARCH 11, 1945
That Sunday morning, the 349th Squadron had their turn to stand down while thirty-eight other crews were seated in the briefing room. The 100th would be making a quick trip into Germany with the Primary and Secondary targets of a synthetic oil refinery located three miles south of Hamburg.
Flying lead for the Division would be the 45th Wing with the 13th flying between it and the 4th. The 13th Wing would only fly two Groups that day: the 390th BG as the Lead and the 100th as its ‘B’. With only thirty-one ships available at their base in Horham, the 95th was under still under a Stand Down. Major Lyster flying with Charles Blanding would lead the 100th’s formation with the High squadron lead by Champion.
Briefed for a 10/10 undercast over the entire route, perfect for hiding fighters, the ships had been loaded up with twenty 250 GP bombs. All ships took off from Thorpe Abbotts, assembling over Bunch 28 at 10000 feet without difficulty. Joining the bomber stream at 12500 altitude, the formation crossed the North Sea, crossing the enemy coast after climbing to 25000 feet.
Although heavy flak on the bomb run left their mark mentally on some of the crews and physically on their ships, others didn't think it too bad. Bombardier, Thomas Williams flying with the Doyle Crew, recorded, “…Plenty of flak high & low 88,105,155 rockets. Really did scare me. Got thru it OK tho with only a couple of holes in the tail.” LT William Wellings, who had dreamed the previous night that he would be flying to Hamburg, tells us through his diary entry, "Joe Michael was flying his last one today and was really sweating it out and he wasn't the only one. It was 10/10 most of the way up the North Sea and then we could see a couple big breaks up ahead and thot sure that the target would be visual. Really started to sweat then. Our escort showed up about time and we knew we wouldn't have to worry about fighters because we had P-51s all over the sky…"
As the 100th’s formation began maneuvers to split into squadron formations for the run on the target, word was received from the 390th’s Lead that bombing would be performed in group formation via H2X. Getting back into group formation prohibited a proper interval and siting between the 100th’s Formation and the 390th’s Low squadron, forcing the 100th to release its bombs on the 390th’s smoke bomb signal. Bombs were away at 1300 hours from an altitude of 25,850.
LT Wellings continued his entry, "We finally got into group formation half way down the run and dropped on the lead, which was dropping on 390th. However, we had a beautiful formation and dropped all together. It was solid 10/10 the whole way and since we were the 5th group across, they hadn't gotten our altitude yet so the flak wasn't bad at all. In fact, they never did actually shoot at us because we were always slightly behind and above another sqdn. Didn't get one flak hole even and only heard one burst go off…"
The Rally Point was made and the heavy bombers were safely away, heading back to base after only one hour and forty-five minutes hours in Germany, "A good deal" per Thomas Wellings. Eight ships returned that day with flak battle damage.
That Sunday, the Officers would enjoy another Tea Dance held at the Officer’s Club with the 100th’s own band, Century Bombers providing the music. What a surreal world it was for these Airmen…to be over enemy territory and afraid for your life one minute, then just a few hours later, dancing with a woman in your arms, dressed in your Class A uniform.
Bombing Results
Bombing Results:
Aircraft Lost: 0
Crew Lost: 0
Claims of Enemy Losses (CLS): 0
Aircraft Returned:
Photos
Hamburg bomb site
Hamburg bomb site
