Twenty Third Mission, 21 April 1945               Target:  Target of Last Resort, Ingolstadt, Germany

This was Tony's last mission, and the last combat mission for the 486th Bomb Group.

By this date, the Allied Forces have penetrated deep into Germany. There is absolutely no hope for the Third Reich. The Eighth Air Force continues to support the advance of the Allies, which are in this case moving south towards Munich. But at this point, it is becoming increasing pointless to bomb infrastructure targets. Most of the important strategic targets have been hit multiple times. Many of the German cities are simply piles of rubble. 

But the Luftwaffe is still an adversary and a threat to the Allied Air Forces. Due to lack of viable airfields, having been heavily targeted by the Eighth Air Force, forces them to seek inconspicuous airfields.The Me 262's Jet Fighters in particular are a menace. Ju44, a fighter group led by Germany's most influential fighter ace at the time, Brigadier General Adolf Galland, has taken to hiding their planes by the side of the autobahn.  




The concept of this mission is excerpted from the 486th website: 

"To prevent these jets from launching attacks against Patton's advancing army the 8th AF was tasked to take out the ad hoc airfield. The 486th was to provide 3 squadrons and would lead the 4th Combat Bombardment Wing on this mission, which would only involve 800 heavy bombers. The Wing would be in the second position in the 3rd Air Division bomber stream. Mission details and field orders were received at 0200 hours on April 21, 1945 and the targets were: Primary - Autobahn; Seconday - Marshall yards and airfields in the München area."

Ingolstadt is part of the Munich metropolitan area and had several bridges spanning the Danube.

The weather during the mission is terrible, and since they can't observe the target, they move from primary, to secondary, and eventually to the Target of Last Resort, which is the unlucky and once-picturesque university town of Ingolstadt. 

This diagram shows the route taken by the 486th to the targets, Ingolstadt being ultimately hit.

This is taken from S/SGT Huffman's Diary: 

"Bombing altitude was 20,000 ft. We had no flak and no fighters. The most difficult part of this mission was getting there. The weather was terrible. Clouds were 35,000 ft. high. The weather was bad from take off and it took a lot of time and near misses before we were assembled, joined our formation and headed for the target. At times we had to fly 35,000 ft. to avoid thunderstorms and when we crossed over the Alps it looked like you could step out on them. This was a long tough mission. Robbie and Willems [pilot and copilot] had their hands full. Lt. Col. Dick Uhle [Commanding Officer of the 486th] was selected to lead this mission and I don't think it helped his popularity at all. Flight time was 10 hours anti 15 minutes [very close to the limit of the B17's range]."

Ingolstadt was very unfortunate during the war. Being in the Munich metropolitan area and being on the rail network at an important crossing point on the Danube, the town was bombarded multiple times. Munich itself was hit 71 times, and Ingolstadt seemed to be the alternate target for many missions.  The results were devastating. This particular raid by the 486th only compounded to the misery of the town and killed 28 civilians, some of the very few that were left. 

After the war, Ingolstadt was rebuilt essentially from scratch. It re-emerged as an important university town and happens to be the headquarters of the Audi automotive company. 

Modern day Ingolstadt, still preserving the original layout of the old (obliterated) city.

This was the 486th's very last combat mission. The war would go on, but there simply weren't enough targets to go around. 


The Eighth Air Force continued to fly. In fact, the Battle for Munich, which took place over the next several days, would be a showdown between the 8th Air Force and the Luftwaffe. In all, the Eighth lost 40 B17's on April 24 from fighter attacks and flak, an unsustainable attrition rate of about 10% of the bomber force. 

Twenty Second Mission, 20 April 1945               Target:  Marshalling Yards, Wustermark, Germany



12 days have passed since the last mission! Many changes have taken place! Tony's crew returns from the Flak House (a rest and recreation facility) to Sudbury to find many familiar faces missing! 

On 10 April, the 486th Bomb Group goes through the grueling mission to Briest:

On 17 April, on a mission to Dresden, two more ships are shot down! 

One of those ships is "The Pursuit of Happiness" in which Tony's crew  had flown just a few weeks before. The entire LT Bartl crew is lost. 

Bartl's Crew

Salvagers in Czechoslovakia recovering a wing from "The Pursuit of Happiness"

Also on the 17th, LT Allbright's crew gets shot down but all manage to bail out to safety.  All are captured by the Germans.

Allbright's Crew

April 12th shocks the entire country! The President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt dies suddenly. The Germans are losing the war, but Adolf Hitler is still alive in Berlin (as a matter of fact, he celebrates his 56th birthday in his bunker on the 20th), the war in the Pacific continues. The Roosevelt administration had never seriously prepared for a presidential succession.

A new President is sworn in, Harry S. Truman, and most of the country is unaware of who he is! And he is woefully unprepared to take on the responsibility. It is two weeks into his presidency before he is briefed about the fact that the United States has been developing an atomic bomb. 

Joseph Stalin, Truman, and Winston Churchill

Tony's Mission Log: 

Tony's last entry on his Mission Log. His next mission would be the last combat mission the 486th Bomb Group ever conducted. 

The following is taken from Staff Sergeant Kooi's diary: 

"Today I made my 27^th mission- to marshaling yards at Wustermark near Berlin. Planes were bombing railroads and communication all around the west side of Berlin today the object being to cut everything to and from Berlin. It shouldn’t be long before they take Berlin. We carried 10-500 lb. bombs which we dropped from 22,000 ft.- visual. On the way back we dropped down to about 10,000 ft, and got a very good view of Germany from Berlin across Hanover, which has thousands of craters around it and few intact buildings in it and along the western edge of the Ruhr Valley where German resistance ended yesterday. Just west of the Ruhr near a bend in the Rhine a lot of American gliders were scattered around. Evidently a large landing had been made here [Operation Varsity]. The ground was full of shell holes which are much smaller as a rule than bomb craters and long zig-zag trenches and traps."

The end of the war in Europe was a forgone conclusion, but there was still uncertainty, every time you went on a mission you faced unforeseen risks. Everyone wondered how much longer the war would go on...

Intelligence Report map prepared for General Kibler on 20 April 1945, he served under General Omar Bradley. 

Twenty First Mission, 8 April 1945               Target:  Marshalling Yards, Hof, Germany

This is "Wee Willy" from the 91st BG, hit by flak directly on the left wing in the skies of Germany on 8 April 1945. A month that would prove to be an ordeal for the Eighth Air Force. The 486th flies on 8 April and loses 4 ships on their formation. And on 10 April loses 4 more.  Tony's Squadron, the 832nd, is the most affected. 

Tony's Mission Log:

Missions were getting harder and harder, and the Germans more desperate by the minute. 

The missions on 8 April and 10 April were absolutely brutal to Tony's Squadron. For some reason Tony's crew didn't fly on 10 April (probably because they were granted crew rest), but on that mission the 832nd Squadron was thoroughly abused. 

The squadron was flying 9 of 12 ships on 8 April. Of those, 8 returned to base. 

On 10 April, 9 ships go on the mission, and only 4 return to base with the Combat Wing.  LT Robinson's crew eventually straggles into Sudbury on two engines. 

Here is the citation for LT Wood's Crews actions on 8 April (reprinted from 486th's website):
"The Blue Fairy, piloted by Billy Wood, was hit in the left wing on the mission to Hof, GR, and left formation. #3 caught fire which quickly spread to the rest of the aircraft. Two crewman were KIA in the initial attack. The copilot, LT Doerschlag, kept the aircraft under control long enough to allow the rest of the crew to escape. The aircraft then entered a violent spin, lost a wing and exploded. LT Doerschlag was ejected from the aircraft with head injuries and a shattered foot. He landed safely and was made POW with the rest of his crew. For his actions that day, LT Doerschlag would win the DFC [Distinguished Flying Cross] 40 years after the fact."

Other aircraft lost that day were LT Hohmann's crew and LT Sauler's crew. This is the citation for LT Sauler actions (reprinted from 486th's website): 
"On a mission to Hof, GR, LT Sauler's plane was hit in the cockpit area causing a fire to break out there. The aircraft spun out of formation, but LT Sauler apparently was able to gain enough control of his aircraft for his crew to bail out. He died when the aircraft crashed. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (posthumous) for his actions that day, and awarded the Silver Star in 2003."



The bombing of Hof was conducted in good weather and from a lower altitude (15,000 feet). The results were very good, the rail facilities became useless. This video, taken when American troops captured the town shows the level of the devastation inflicted on the rail system. 

Twentieth Mission, 7 April 1945               Target:  Me 262 Jet Fighter Air Base, Parchim, Germany

This was by far the most intense mission that Tony's Crew had ever seen up to this point. The target was one of the home bases of JG 7, an exclusively jet-powered fighter group. The Me 262 threat was of course taken very seriously and the Eight Air Force was committed to destroying as many as they could. The 486th bombed this target visually from a lower altitude (15,000 feet) and they were able to score excellent results, but the price they paid was high. Out of 39 ships, 2 are shot down by flak, and 10 take major damage. Other groups hitting the target take flak abuse and are attacked by fighters. 

Tony's Mission log:

The Germans field more than 50 jets and more than 100 conventional fighters (mostly Me 109's and FW 190's). The Eighth Air Force take 15 bomber losses, but they also inflict major pain on the Luftwaffe, the Eighth Air Force claims 104 kills. But the ferocity of the German response is alarming and continues unabated for the next several days. 

The 486th Bomb Group over the Parchim Airfield dropping incendiaries. The smoke trail may be a marker or perhaps from one of the aircraft shot down. 

Right over the target, they flew through a one minute flak barrage that was absolutely murderous and LT Krenz's ship immediately went down. 

Another ship, LT Center's "Happy Warrior", was impacted by friendly incendiaries at bombs-away. A canister disbanded prematurely and accidentally hit the ship below.  "Happy Warrior" left the formation with two engines on fire. 

Lt Center's "Happy Warrior" gets hit right after bombs away, notice open bomb bay.

"Happy Warrior" starts to burn fiercely and peels off the formation. Out of a crew of 9, 6 bail out and are captured. 

Combat Photographer Bain Fulton, who was aboard the "Happy Warrior", bailed out of the flaming ship and managed to snap this photo of "American Beauty" while all hell is breaking lose over the target and he is dropping from the sky. 

Steven Michael, whose father William Solomon was a crewman on "American Beauty" had a chance to speak with Bain Fulton's grandson, Bain Fulton III, who conveyed the story of his grandfather's adventure. In Steven Michael's words "He almost didn't make it. He had trouble getting his flak vest off to be able to pull the rip chord. He finally did but dropped the camera which was damaged but the film was salvaged and the Germans let him keep it. There wasn't anything on the film they didn't already know."

American Beauty Crew: William Solomon third from Right

Lt Krenz Crew, ship lost with 8 POW and 2 KIA.

Reprinted from 486th  BG Archives

Routes to target on 7 April 1945 for 8th Air Force. The 486th BG was part of the 4th Combat Wing (CBW) to the North East.  

The JG 7 Airfield Reconnaissance Photograph with target areas. 

One of the groups within the 4th Combat Wing was the 487th Bomb Group. Budd Wentz was the pilot of one of their ships. They bombed Parchim and were rammed mid-air by an Me 109 who lost a dogfight with a P51. They were forced to land at a newly-liberated German airfield. They abandoned their brand-new but battered ship and hopped on a German B17 (originally American and restored to flying condition) that just happened to be parked there at the airfield. They managed to make it home in it that same day! 

This is Budd Wentz's yarn: Rammed Over Parchim 

Nineteenth Mission, 5 April 1945               Target:  Marshalling Yards/Munitions Depot, Furth, Germany


Tony's Mission Log: 

This was another operation to support the American advance through the Ruhr valley by denying transport and supplies to the German Army inside the "Ruhr Pocket", which was still a formidable of concentration of German troops and anti-aircraft power. From the Bomb Group's records, we can determine that the weather was indeed quite bad. The target was bombed with the assistance of radar, but some of the bombing was observed and the results were considered good. 

The opposition to the Bomb groups is still tenacious and the flak merciless! Several of the planes of the 486th suffer some damage, especially "Homesick Angel", which is forced to land in a German airfield captured by the Allies. The plane was repaired and flown back to Sudbury a couple of days later.   

"Homesick Angel", was damaged and forced to land in Germany

Eighteenth Mission, 4 April 1945                    Target: Revisiting Dock Facilities, Kiel, Germany


Tony's Mission Log: 

This mission went fairly smoothly for Tony's Bomb Group, which was flying at the vanguard of the 8th Air Force that day, but it wasn't as smooth for the other groups that followed. Three B17s where shot down and 50 damaged, some of them badly. The 95th Bomb Group was one of those groups that followed and they suffered a tough pounding from the anti-aircraft batteries. 

Lt. Tuss's crew, flying with the 95th BG was hit hard and had to land in Sweden, where they were detained and interned for the duration of the war. But thankfully, the crew suffered no casualties.

The most important target in Kiel was the Deutsche Shipyard. The red arrow points to the submarine pen built for the U Boat fleet, which was never penetrated by Allied bombs. But notice the devastation in the area courtesy of the Eight Air Force. 

The Deutsche Werke Shipyard in Kiel photographed in 1945.

Seventeenth Mission, 3 April 1945                    Target: Dock Facilities, Kiel, Germany

B17's from the 486th en route to a target

 Tony's Mission Log:

The city of Kiel was the home of the German Navy's Baltic fleet and a very important port for the U Boat Wolf-Packs. In addition, it was the gatekeeper for the Kiel Canal, which is one of the busiest fresh water canals in the world. It connects the Baltic and the North Sea, avoiding 250 miles of travel and strategically avoiding the Denmark and the Jutland Peninsula to the North. At the end of the war, Keil was in danger of being snatched by the Russians, as the advancing Allied Armies had not reached it, so an Allied Team was dispatched to occupy it.  

Long Mission to Kiel on the Baltic Sea

This is U Boat U995; on display in Kiel. It is the only remaining U Boat of its type. As late as March of 1945, it was at sea preying on Allied shipping. In that month it sank a Russian ship and damaged an American freighter. Most U Boats were destroyed in combat, and most of the remaining fleet was scuttled by the Allies in 1945 and 1946. Even at this late stage of the war, the German Navy was a serious concern. 

U995 - only 5 U Boats remain today

The Kiel Canal is 61 miles long. 

These are details from S/SGT Kooi (from the 486th BG) who flew the same mission:

"Our target was the Admiral Scheer, Hipper, and a light cruiser in the harbor. These ships got out of the harbor before we got there I think. We dropped our 6-1000 lb. bombs from 26,000 ft. on the dock area and houses at the south end of the bay in Kiel. The flak was moderate and inaccurate- no enemy fighters. The weather was quite bad but at the target there was a break and bombing may have been visual."

German Light Cruiser Karlsruhe in the Kiel Canal