January 1945

JanuaryFebruary | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December

The Mighty Eighth - Saturday, 10 February, 1945



SATURDAY, 10 FEBRUARY 1945

EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)

STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 2 missions are flown.
Mission 825: 9 of 164 B-17s carry out the first DISNEY mission (Royal Navy
rocket-boosted concrete piercing bombs) against the U-boat pens at Ijmuiden,
the Netherlands visually; 140 hit the secondary target, the oil storage depot
at Dulmen, Germany using Micro H; and 1 hits Lingen, a target of opportunity;
5 B-17s fly a screening mission; 5 B-17s are damaged. Escorting are 102 of
106 P-51s without loss. 3 of 6 P-51s fly a scouting mission and 20 of 21
P-51s escort photo reconnaissance aircraft over Germany. 102 of 104 P-51s fly
a strafing mission in the Steinhuder Lake area but abort because of bad
weather; 2 P-51s are lost.
Mission 826: 1 B-17 and 11 of 12 B-24s drop leaflets in the Netherlands and
Germany during the night; 1 airman is KIA.

TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In Germany, 320+ bombers of the 9th
Bombardment Division attack communications centers at Kempen, Horrem, and
Euskirchen, vehicle center and depot at Munstereifeland at Berg-Gladbach, and
several casual targets including rail bridge at Bullay; fighters escort the
bombers, fly patrols and armed reconnaissance, bomb bridges, attack railroad
cars and other targets, and support the US VIII and XII Corps in the Prum
area on the Prum River and in the bridgehead area E of the Sauer River NW of
Echternach, Luxembourg. In France, HQ 416th Bombardment Group (Light) and the
668th and 670th Bombardment Squadrons (Light) move from Melun to Athies
Airfield, Laon with A-26s; the 39th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron,
Ninth AF, based at St Amand with F-5s, sends a flight to operate from Jarny
(another flight is at Le Culot, Belgium).






1942 | 1943 | 1944 | 1945