Mission 10 – February 22, 1944
Day three of Big Week. The Liberty Lady crew's target is Bernburg where there was a factory for Junkers JU88 fighter planes....
09
Apr
08
Apr
Mission 9 – February 21, 1944
Monday, February 21st. the target was Lippstadt Airfield. A 7 ½ hour trip for the Liberty Lady crew. This was a difficult mission because of the thick overcast. When the cloud cover obscured their principal targets, the heavy bombers had to go to secondary targets...
06
Apr
Mission 8 – February 20, 1944
February 20th was on a Sunday. This was the 1st day of Operation Argument, Big Week, the Allies' week-long offensive against the enemy aircraft industry. For the first time, the 8th Air Force sent more than 1,000 bombers deep into Germany....
17
Mar
To a Hero
While Herman was out of commission with the ruptured eardrum, his crew flew seven missions. At the end of each flight day those not flying would wait in anticipation for the B-17's to return, counting each one as they appeared in the sky....
16
Mar
Mission 6 – January 7, 1944
The assigned target was I G Farben Industrie plant at Ludwigshafen deep into Germany. This was an important chemical factory, critical to supplying Germany's war effort. An interesting aside is the fact that IG Farben also had a plant near Auschwitz which used slave laborers...
10
Mar
Fighter Escorts
The long-range fighter escorts that Herman refers to in his diary were the P 38's, P 47's, and P 51's. These were welcome competition for the German fighter planes....
09
Mar
Mission 4 – December 30, 1943
The target on this mission was the port city of Ludwigshafen, deep into Germany. The city was at the junction of two rivers and was an important Allied target because of its oil refinery and chemical factories....