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Back to Mission 64 Mission 65 Sunday, 6 Aug 44 Hamburg Forward to Mission 66
Mission 65
The 492nd was assigned an oil refinery at Hamburg. Pathfinders were taken in case of poor visibilty. The Group dispatched 28 planes for the job. During assembly 3 of them had to abort for mechanical reasons. This mission was led by Captain Austin P "Red" Byrne, the 857th Squadron Operations Officer. He flew on a Pathfinder ship provided by the 44th BG. He would not survive the mission.
Fighter Protection
Bombers outnumbered their escorts by over two-to-one. The Luftwaffe did put some planes in the air, perhaps only to report information to the anti-aircraft batteries. Reports within the Group say that the Luftwaffe was seen, but not encountered. Their escorts were able to keep the Luftwaffe at bay.
Enemy Resistance
Flak was just as heavy, thick and accurate as any seen before, perhaps even more so. The Group didn't lose any planes, but the Pathfinder from the 44th that was flying as deputy lead was shot down. On the plane with them was Captain Austin P "Red" Byrne, the 857th Operations Officer. He was killed.
Bombsight
We don't know if they bombed visually or not. One plane had mechanical problems that pervented it from dropping on target. The other 24 crews were able to hit their objectives.
Losses
The Group was beaten up by the flak, but were able to return to England. Airplanes with an emergency would radio ahead to to be cleared for emergency landing. Based on the seriousness reported, the control tower would give them their instructions. The Fleming Crew R-47, on their second mission in as many days, were told to land third in line.
The Pitsenbarger Crew R-26 was second in line and was coming in to land. Their crippled plane had over 500 flak holes in it. For reasons unknown, Fleming decided to leapfrog the Pitsenbarger Crew and land ahead of them. Their wings clipped each other. Pitsenbarger was forced to crashland in the middle of the runway. Meanwhile, Fleming didn't have enough runway to land and crashed off its end.
This accident cost the Fleming Crew the lives of 9 men. Only one man, S/Sgt Schmaltz, survived.
The Pitsenbarger Crew lost one man, S/Sgt Barber, while the other 9 men were wounded.
Epilogue
Scott Crew 712 completed their 30 mission tour. They barely made it back as their plane was severley crippled by flak. So bad were their damages that they elected not to do the traditional "30 mission buzz" over the base.
The Army Air Force had policies and procedures for handling emergency landings. Had Lt Fleming followed his instuctions, there was a good chance nobody would have gotten hurt or killed. On this same day there were other crews with even worse damage, for example, like it was for with the Flanagan Crew 705.
The plane of Flanagan Crew was severely damaged by flak. They had lost 2 engines and a third one's prop was running wild. It also had a damaged tail skid and a blown tire. Lt Flanagan followed his instructions and crashlanded his crippled ship at Metfield Air Field. After they landed, only one man had any injury to speak of. He had some minor cuts on one hand from pieces of broken plexiglass that had been busted out by flak.
Mission Data
Mission: 65
Date: 6 Aug 44
City: Hamburg, Germany
Target: Oil Refinery
Aircraft
DIS:
28
Abort:
3
ATT:
24
RTB:
25
Lost:
2
PFF:
2
Bomb Load
Tons: 60
Type: 500 lb GPs
Result: n/a
Enemy Action
Flak: Very Heavy
Accurate
GAF: None
Counter Action
Kills: 0
492nd Casualties
KIA:
11
WIA:
0
POW:
0
INT:
0
More Info
This mission's impact
on the overall war
Prytulak Crew 907
Perry Crew R-21
Hamilton Crew 604
Prytulak Crew 907
Taylor Crew R-04
Scott Crew 712
30th Mission
Pitsenbarger
Crew R-26
Acident
1 KIA, 9 WIA
Fleming Crew R-47
Acident
9 KIA, 1 WIA
Flanagan Crew 705
Crashlanded
at Metfield
44-40140
ALICE
Scott Crew 712
44-40146
Pitsenbarger Crew R-26
42-50719
Fleming Crew R-47
42-51091
BANGIN' LULU
Flanagan Crew 705
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