25 April 1945

WEDNESDAY, 25 APRIL 1945

EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)

STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 2 missions are flown.
Mission 968: 589 bombers and 486 fighters fly the final heavy bomber
mission against an industrial target, airfields and rail targets in SE
Germany and Czechoslovakia; they claim 1-1-0 Luftwaffe aircraft (including
an Ar 234 jet); 6 bombers and 1 fighter are lost:
1. 307 B-17s are sent to hit the airfield (78) and Skokda armament works
at Pilsen, Czechoslovakia; 6 B-17s are lost, 4 damaged beyond repair and
180 damaged; 8 airmen are WIA and 42 MIA. Escorting are 188 of 206 P-51s.
2. 282 B-24s are sent to hit marshalling yards at Salzburg (109), Bad
Reichenhall (56) and Hallein (57) and electrical transformers at Traunstein
(56); 20 B-24s are damaged; 1 airman is WIA. The escort is 203 of 216
P-51s; they claim 1-0-0 aircraft in the air.
3. 17 of 19 P-51s fly a sweep of the Prague-Linz area claiming 0-1-0
aircraft in the air; 1 P-51 is lost.
4. 17 of 19 P-51s fly a screening mission.
5. 4 P-51s escort 2 OA-10s on an air-sea-rescue mission.
6. 22 P-51s escort 5 F-5s on photo reconnaissance missions over Germany
and Czechoslovakia.
7. 88 of 98 P-51s escort RAF bombers.
Mission 969: During the night of 25/26 Apr, 11 B-24s drop leaflets in
France, the Netherlands and Germany. 12 B-24s and 1 A-26 are dispatched on
CARPETBAGGER missions to Norway; 7 aircraft complete the mission.

TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In Germany, 296 A-20s, A-26s and
B-26s strike Erding Airfield and Freilassing ordnance depot; fighters fly
airfield cover and escort missions, and operate in conjunction with the US
XII Corps as it pushes along the N bank of the Danube River SE of Passau and
support the XX Corps on the Danube at Regensburg and surrounding areas; US
and Soviet forces establish contact near Torgau. Unit moves: HQ 97th Combat
Bombardment Wing (Light) from Marchais to Arrancy, France; HQ 397th
Bombardment Group (Medium) and 597th, 598th and 599th Bombardment Squadrons
from Peronne, France to Venlo, the Netherlands with B-26s; 33d Photographic
Reconnaissance Squadron, 363d Tactical Reconnaissance Group, from Gutersloh
to Brunswick, Germany with F-5s; 492d Fighter Squadron, 48th Fighter Group,
from Kassel to Illesheim, Germany with P-47s.