Mission Date: April 17, 1945
AUSSIG, MY
100th BG Mission #: 304
Mission Summary
ON THIS DAY...APRIL 17, 1945
At the April 17 briefing, the twenty-nine crews in attendance learned that they would be flying to Aussig, Czechoslovakia with their Primary visual target of its marshaling yards and railway junction. S-2 Intelligence communicated, “It is the only natural outlet from Czech to Saxony and is therefore the most important railway center in this part of Europe.”
The 100th would fly as the Lead group in the 13CBW, with the 95th flying as its ‘B’ group and the 390th as its ‘C.’
Taking off in heavy ground haze starting at 1015 hours, the pilots formed up at 3000 feet over Buncher 28, flying through moderate to dense and persistent contrails on their route to the target over southern Germany and through the soupy 9/10 cloud coverage above 20500 feet to the IP. Two minutes prior to the turn at the IP, which was overshot to avoid the Brux flak, the squadrons fanned out for their run on Aussig, under restricted visibility.
James Lantz remembered that the flak “was intense but not accurate. Our fighter escort was the 357th and one fighter got a direct hit and blew up with a burst of orange flame. The boys saw another P-51 and B-17 go down. Because of the heavy mist we made three runs on the target. I was flying number nine position and number six was new and kept on top of me, giving me a rough time all day.”
The 100th’s Lead squadron failed to release on its first run, completing a 360 degree turn to the IP for a second run. Still unable to release, it made another 360 degree turn for a third and final run where the bombardier picked up the target eight miles from bomb release. Bombs were away from 17500 feet for the Lead squadron, 19650 from the High and 18800 from the Low.
Meeting at the Rally Point, all ships returned safely to Thorpe Abbotts after eight hours and forty minutes in the air, with three of those hours attached to their oxygen masks.
Bombing Results
Bombing Results: EXCELLENT
Aircraft Lost: 0
Crew Lost: 0
Claims of Enemy Losses (CLS): 0
Aircraft Returned:
Photos
Douglas Eden Aussig strike Photo
Aussig Marshalling Yards strike photo from 100 "C" Group. Photo Courtesy of Beth Eden-McGuire
