Mission Date: March 12, 1945
SWINEMUNDE, DOCKS
100th BG Mission #: 278
Mission Summary
ON THIS DAY...MARCH 12, 1945
Thirty-eight crews checked in with the Attendance man, settling into their seats as they awaited the 0430 briefing to commence. When the S-2 Intelligence Officer revealed the target, the crews saw that they would be flying to the port of Swindemunde, sixteen miles away from Russian forces located at Stettin. Reconnaissance photos taken two days earlier revealed a high amount of German naval and military activity including the German battleship Admiral Scheer and U-boats. With the naval vessels at dock as their Primary target, the mission’s secret recall phrases were appropriately tagged “Remember Pearl Harbor” and “Russian Fields.” The Secondary target would be the oil refinery and ship yards.
The Division would be splitting its Wings into ‘Task Forces.’ Leading the 3rd Division would be Task Force I, made up of the 95th BG as the Lead and the 100th flying as its ‘B.’ The 390th BG would fly in Task Force II, last in the entire Division line and with the Primary target of Siegen.
Major Cruver was to fly as the 100th’s Command pilot, with Jack DePlanque. The High would be led by Edward Wooten and Wilford Murray while the Low would be led by Robert W. Stivers and Robert Ellis.
With each of the B-17s loaded up with five 1000 lb. General Purpose bombs, the crews took off from Thorpe Abbotts and formed over Buncher 28. In the crowded airspace, the 100th’s pilots encountered some difficulty forming as a Group due to the 2nd Division’s B-24s to its north and the 95th’s ships to its south. Eventually forming into Task Force I with the 95th over Buncher 11, the 100th’s pilots flew in a 10/10 undercast as they crossed the North Sea, losing one ship to an early abortion - 349th’s Joseph King. Thomas Williams, Bombardier recorded, “Long ass haul over the North Sea. Came in over the Jutland Peninsula. Sure was pretty country…”
Hitting the IP at 1211, flying through “meagre, inaccurate, barrage and tracking” flak, the Group prepared for their squadron peel off and an H2X attack on the Secondary target. Bombs were away between 1224-1225 hours. Williams continued his diary entry, “Flak was light. Rockets & 88’s. Low & inaccurate. Barreled out of there in a hurry. Went home the same way we came in. Saw a bunch of submarines. Read all the way home. Landed 1600. Cleaned guns. That field sure looked good…
After flying one thousand four hundred miles roundtrip on a nine hour mission, with four and one-half of those hours on oxygen, the crews returned safely. With no official battle damage report, it was another good mission, a “milk run” for the Hundredth. That evening, the mission light glowed green signaling a Group Stand Down for the next day.
Bombing Results
Bombing Results: GOOD
Aircraft Lost: 0
Crew Lost: 0
Claims of Enemy Losses (CLS): 0
Aircraft Returned:
