Group Mission 73 - Augsburg-Lechfeld, Germany - March 18th, 1944. Daniel was in Crew #5 "B" Group, and flew in A/C 42-31744 "Little Butch 2"
The 390Th "A" Group formation which was high Group in the 13TH Wing took off at 0925 hours - 0954 hours and assembled at 12,000 feet over the field. Climbed to assembly altitude as briefed. Group joined the 95TH "A" & "B" Groups ahead of scheduled time and as a result, no difficulty was encountered at that point. However on route to target, lead Group flew so close to high overcast, we were forces to fly level with them, rather than in normal Wing formation. Coarse into target was essentially as briefed, but clouds obscured the target area and a target assigned to the First Division was attacked. Bombs were dropped at 1413 hours and planes returned to base by 1834 hours.Aircraft Not Attacking: 21 A/C left the base in formation. A/C 906,040,325,332,041, and 715 returned before reaching the English Coast. Thus 15 A/C were dispatched. Of the , A/C 819 returned after reaching enemy coast and is credited with a sortie, The remaining 14 A/C went on and attacked the target. One A/C, # 925 was shot down after leaving the target area. Aircraft lost: A/C 925 observed at 1520 hours, near 48 degrees 18'N- o8 degrees' 00'E, to leave formation after being attacked by enemy aircraft. Peeled off to left and went down in slow spiral with #1 and #2 engines on fire, A/C either explode of fell apart. One to two chutes reported.
The General Narrative reads. The 390th composite Squadron, which flew as the high squadron with the 95th Group, and took off at 0910-0916 hours. Assembly was made at Norham with the 95th Group without difficulty. The narrative reads that the "B" Group made the run into target and back. All planes landed at 1830 hours. The time of the attack on target was 1412 hours at a altitude of 20,000 feet. Bombs dropped were 30x1000lbs GP. GP stands for, general-purpose bomb and is an air- dropped bomb intended as a compromise between blast damage, penetration, and fragmentation in explosive effect. No aircrafts were lost out of this group.
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