18 April 1945

WEDNESDAY, 18 APRIL 1945

EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)

AIRBORNE OPERATIONS (IX Troop Carrier Command): HQ 349th Troop Carrier
Group and the 23d, 312th, 313th and 314th Troop Carrier Squadrons move from
Barkston, England to Amy Airfield, Roye, France with C-47s.

STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 2 missions are flown.
Mission 959: 767 bombers and 705 fighters are dispatched to hit rail
targets in Czechoslovakia and SE Bavaria; they claim 16-0-14 Luftwaffe
aircraft; 2 B-17s and 2 P-51s are lost:
1. 174 B-17s hit the secondary target, the marshalling yard at Straubing
without loss. 99 P-51s escort.
2. 121 B-17s are dispatched to hit the marshalling yard at Kollin (97); 21
others hit the secondary, the marshalling yard at Pilsen; 1 B-17 is damaged
beyond repair and 17 damaged; 10 airmen are MIA. The escort is 157 of 160
P-51s; they claim 3-0-4 aircraft in the air; 1 P-51 is lost (pilot MIA).
3. 196 B-24s are sent to hit the marshalling yard (166) and rail bridge and
rail industry (28) at Passau without loss. Escorting are 240 P-47s and P-51s;
they claim 12-0-8 aircraft on the ground; 1 P-51 is lost (pilot MIA).
4. 276 B-17s are sent to hit electrical transformers (9) and marshalling
yard (56) at Traunstein and marshalling yard and electrical transformers at
Rosenheim (148); 61 hit the secondary, the marshalling yard at Freising; no
losses or casualties. 139 of 150 P-51s escort.
5. 101 of 103 P-51s escort Ninth AF B-26s claiming 1-0-2 aircraft in the
air.
6. 27 P-51s fly scouting missions.
7. 15 of 17 P-51s escort 11 of 13 F-5s on photo reconnaissance missions
over Germany.
Mission 960: During the night of 18/19 Apr, 11 B-24s drop leaflets in
France, the Netherlands and Germany and 17 of 18 B-24s fly CARPETBAGGER
missions to Denmark and Norway.

TACTICAL OPERATIONS
First Tactical Air Force (Provisional): HQ 86th Fighter Group and 525th
Fighter Squadron move from Tantonville, France to Braunschardt, Germany with
P-47s.
Ninth Air Force: In Germany, about 590 B-26s, A-26s, and A-20s attack oil
storage at Neuburg an der Donau, marshalling yards at Juterbog and
Nordlingen, and rail junctions at Falkenburg and Juterbog; fighters escort
the bombers, fly patrols, sweeps, and armed reconnaissance, attack assigned
targets, and support ground forces including the US V Corps assaulting
Leipzig, the VII Corps in the Dessau-Halle areas, the 5th Armored Division
near Steimke, and the 2d Armored Division at Magdeburg and other XIX Corps
elements astride the Elbe River S of Barby; organized German resistance in
the Ruhr pocket ceases. The 492d Fighter Squadron, 48th Fighter Group, moves
from Kelz to Kassel, Germany with P-47s.