09 Apr Mission 10 – February 22, 1944
Junkers plant at Bernburg
Day three of Big Week. The Liberty Lady crew’s target is Bernburg where there was a factory for Junkers JU88 fighter planes.
The city of Bernburg is also noted for having had a mental hospital where for several years the Nazis carried out their T-4 Euthanasia Program. About 275,000 patients from mental asylums who were thought to be “incurable” were killed as part of Hitler’s ethnic cleansing philosophy.
9 hours in the air but remember they were up for (I would guess) four hours before take-off … breakfast, crew briefings, specialty briefings, gear, B-17 check, final briefing with crew, etc. etc.
I’m thinking how tired I am tomorrow if I get up at 3 am today. And this is Day Three.
Over the route home from Bernburg the lead navigator messed up and took us directly over a concentrated flak area near Happy Valley. Sincerely I thought that was it. I couldn’t possibly see how any ship could ride through that and come out whole. Somehow we did, though the Lady was a sieve.
From Thurleigh to Bernburg
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