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The Group was ordered to go to Brunswick, where they had taken their first beating back on 19 May 44. This time they were to destroy an aircraft manufacturing plant. By now things might be easier. The Luftwaffe was running low on planes, pilots and fuel.
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They put up 19 crews for the job, but one of them had to abort due to a mechanical failure that had developed during assembly.
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The Brunswick armada of 452 bombers was escorted by 188 fighters. As low as the figure was, it was probably enough. We don't know if any of the 7 bombers lost were due to the Luftwaffe. Most likely they were shot down by flak. The 392nd, also flying on this mission, noted in their report that they didn't see any enemy fighters.
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Flak was described by the 392nd as heavy and accurate. We don't know how much damage the 492nd substained, but its 857th Squadron reported that 4 of their 6 planes sent out had heavy battle damage.
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We haven't found anything to say if the Group dropped visually or were guided by a Pathfinder. All 18 crews were credited with dropping their bombs on target.
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Skorupan Crew 703 wrapped up their 30 mission tour today.
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Today the rumors that had been spreading around North Pickenham were ended. It was officially announced that the 492nd was getting a new assignment, new duty and a new base. The new assignment would be primarily doing Carpetbagger Operations with the OSS and leaflet dropping. But the 492nd would be manned by the squadrons that had already been trained and were currently doing it. They were told that some of the 492nd crews would be remaining in the Group, but most crews would be transferring to other bomb groups.
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All of the previous rumors proved true, in a sense. The Group was leaving, getting a new assignment of duty and was to be thoroughly reorganized. The news was met with mixed emotions. No one had thought that all of the rumors would be right, but at least they weren't in the dark anymore. They all knew for a fact that the Group would be disbanded soon. They just didn't know where they would be going.
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