| APO-520 | US ARMY |
| S-2 NARRATIVE REPORT | |
| MISSION DATE: JANUARY 31, 1944 |
|
MISSION NBR. 20 TARGET: Aviano, Italy - Airdrome I. CHRONOLOGY Thirty-three B-24's took off at 0906 hours to bomb Aviano Airdrome. Five returned early. Twenty-seven dropped 78.75 tons of 500 G.P. bombs on target at 1301 hours from 24,500 feet. One jettisoned 1 ton in Adriatic Sea due to malfunction of bomb release mechanism. Twenty-seven returned to base at 1510 hours. One landed at friendly field. II. ROUTE AND ASSAULT Rendezvoused with the 449th Bomb Group at 1022 hours above Manduria, with escort at 1112 hours at 8,000 feet above Lake Varano, thence as briefed to I.P. where a left turn was made onto the target. Left rally was made onto course direct to Lake Varano thence to home base. III. RESULTS Bomb strike photos showed hangers, administration buildings and installations at the airdrome were well covered. The southwest part of the landing ground was hit approximately 30 bombs. Two aircraft were destroyed on the ground and one aircraft probably destroyed. IV. ENEMY RESISTANCE A. Fighters: There were four attacks made in all by five or six enemy aircraft. Each attack being made singly without any apparent coordination. They were made over the target area and did not last longer than 4 to 5 minutes. They were not aggressive. The first attacks were made out of the sun at 5 o'clock high and the last at 9 o'clock high. Credit must be given the escort for keeping the number of attacks to a minimum. Our claims during this engagement are as follows: Destroyed - Two ME-109's, Damaged - One ME-109. B. Flak: Over the target, it was heavy, medium to intense and accurate apparently of the predicted variety. The puffs were mostly black, interspersed with some white. The accuracy during the entire encounter was excellent. Eight of our aircraft where holed. No positive evasive action was taken by the formation. V. OBSERVATIONS At 1303 hours from an altitude of 24,500 feet a white balloon was seen released. At once, an FW-190, which was cruising 2,000 feet above the formation, released a large number of what appeared to be shiny disks, which glittered in the sunshine with the evident intent of making our aircraft break formation to avoid contact with these disks. VI. CASUALTIES Eight aircraft received minor damage from flak. |
|
VII. FLIGHT LEADERS |
|||
| Davis | Kingsman | Miller | Richman |