8th Air Force raid on 12 August 1943?

[Romani]

Greetings,

I am reading "A wing and a prayer" by Harry Crosby, a navigator with 100th Bomb Group.

On 12th August 1943, this group among others flew a mission against a target in Germany, Crosby doesn't remember what it was, since it was covered by clouds, they came over Bonn but he as lead navigator aborted the attack because he couldn't get himself to bomb the place "where Beethoven had gone to school", instead they went and bombed some rail yards in the Ruhr.

Questions:

What was the mission's intended target?

What target was actually bombed?

Thanks for any answers

[Takao]

The primary target was a synthetic oil plant located in Wesseling, Germany, some 5-10 miles North-Northwest of Bonn.
Members of the 349th Bomb Squadron report dropping on Bonn. However, Mr. Crosby was part of the 419th Bomb Squadron.

A good place as any to start you research: http://www.100thbg.com/

[JamesL]

From the USAAF Chronology website
http://paul.rutgers.edu/~mcgrew/wwii/us ... ug.43.html


August 12, 1943 - STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): VIII Bomber Command Mission 81:
The Ruhr is targetted with the bombers concentrating on manufacturing
installations and synthetic oil.
1. 183 B-17's are dispatched to synthetic oil installations at Bochum,
Gelsenkirchen and Recklinghausen; some B-17's become separated on the bomb
run and bomb various targets of opportunity; 133 B-17's hit the targets at
0845-0925 hours; they claim 25-5-11 Luftwaffe aircraft; 23 B-17's are lost,
2 are damaged beyond repair and 103 are damaged; casualties are 5 KIA, 49
WIA and 232 MIA.
2. 147 B-17's are dispatched to manufacturing installations at Bonn; 110
hit the target at 0850-0858 hours; they claim 4-2-2 Luftwaffe aircraft; 2
B-17's are lost, 1 is damaged beyond repair and 69 are damaged; casualties
are 1 KIA, 7 WIA and 21 MIA.
VIII Air Support Command Missions 17 and 18: 71 B-26's are dispatched to
the Poix/Nord Airfield in France; 34 hit the target at 1052 hours; 13
aircraft are damaged.