[drgondog]

Roger - hopefully these excerpts re; 355FG on June 21- June24 will help?
June 21

F.0.407. Kinnard led a ramrod to Ruhland from 0720 to 1430. The 355th covered one Task Force on a round trip while the 4th FG and one squadron of the 352nd FG took their B-17s all the way to Russia for the historic first Shuttle Mission.

At 1015 358FS spotted two Ju 88’s northeast of Magdeburg but Kinnard denied permission to bounce.

Shortly before R/V with the bombers northwest of Belzig, Blue and Green Flights of 357FS intercepted six Me 109’s east of Magdeburg with Haviland and Salinsky destroying two and Bernoske damaging one. Chapman pursued a fourth and shot it down near Juterbog. These encounters took place between 1020-1030.

The target was bombed at 1045. Escort was continued until 1115 at the Warta River, Poland. The 4th and 352nd Fighter Groups picked up the bombers and escorted them to Poltava, USSR.

On the way back one flight of the 354FS dropped down to strafe near Wittenberge to destroy or heavily damage five trains, four barges and two launches. At 1215, the 358FS spotted some 109’s near Brunswick but slipped into cloud cover to evade a bounce

Everyone came out over the Zuider Zee around 1345 hours at 24,000 feet and finally landed at Steeple Morden after 7:10 hours in the air.


June 22

F.O.411. Lieutenant Colonel Kinnard led a glide bombing mission to the Rennes -Chauny - Fisme area from 1414 to 1732. The bridge at Fisme was obscured by weather so the 354FS first bombed an airfield under construction then strafed a parked troop train near Suippes. The 354th left after shooting up German troops, rail cars, locomotives and trucks. The 357FS bombed more rail traffic near Chauny and 30 to 40 rail cars were seen to blow up. Myles King lost his coolant shortly afterwards and bellied in near the target to become POW. The 358FS strafed and bombed trains near Rennes then shot up a camouflaged airfield near Plancoet. No enemy aircraft were seen.

Claims: None

June 23

F.O.414. Lieutenant Colonel Myers led an area support to the Paris-Reims area for his last mission. The group patrolled the area from 1928 to 2110 hours at 24,000 feet. Control reported German fighters but none were seen. Flak was light over the target and everybody was home by 2200.

June 24

F.O.415. Lieutenant Colonel Kinnard led a patrol under Type 16 control from 0638 to 1200 hours. The 355th was vectored from Dreaux to Paris to Beauvais and Etampes but no German aircraft were spotted. The group strafed several trains and hit several trucks and armored cars on their way to Caen before Lieutenant Salinsky in Blue Flight/357FS uncovered a well camouflaged fighter strip near Angers, spotting 15 Me 109s in the trees.

McNeff and Spencer suppressed the flak guns while Salinsky destroyed three, damaged two and Forker got two more. After carefully noting the location, they pulled away to report their find.

Lieutenant Colonel Kinnard took the 354th and 357FS back to Angers area to finish up what Salinsky and Forker started. Up at 1708, making landfall at FeCamp, the group arrived at the grass landing field, grid co-ordinate 2V09789, at 1830 hours. The airfield believed to be at Soucelles.

After shooting up the flak guns on the first pass, the 355th set up a classic gunnery pattern and shot hell out of the parked 109s. Kinnard, Morris and Haviland each destroyed three while Ellison, Martin, Perry, Crandell and Spencer got two. Trembarth, Hulderman, Cross, Forker, McHugh and McNeff each destroyed one. Several more 109s were shot up by the group but no more fires were seen.

When Salinski ran out of ammunition he orbited above the airfield and carefully noted the separate fires and then took gun camera film of the scene before departing for home. Flak defenses permitting, the 355th made this standard operating procedure from this date forward for strafing missions.

The 355th departed the area at 1850 and returned by 2015. Big Party after the mission.

Regards,

Bill Marshall