Mission June 24, 1944 (France) A-20 Havoc bombers

[Henofred]

Hello/Bonjour,

I am looking for the Group of A-20 Havoc (and also some details) which carried out a mission onto Bruz (city near Rennes, Brittany, France) fuel dump on June 24, 1944. Planes of 474th Fighter Group (a Squadron) were also involved.

Best regards,
Frederic

[MW Giles]

It was not the 416th BG, therefore you are left with either the 409th or 410th Bomb Groups

Sorry this does not add much

Martin

PS it was not one of the 2TAF Boston units either

[Henofred]

Even if I don't have my answer, by a process of elimination...it is already an information!

Thank you Martin,
Frederic

[Zoran Petek]

There is a full 416th BG mission list (with maps, loading lists and so on)
http://www.416th.com/missions/combat_missions.html

[Eagle0025]

Bonjour Frederic,

I received your email awhile ago via Scott Frederick. I tried to send you an email but it got returned for some reason.

Anyhow, I have some information for you on the mission you are researching. The A-20 escort mission to Bruz was accomplished by the 429th Fighter Squadron. I do not know the group the A-20s were from, but I am still researching to find out.

This would be the second mission of the day for the 429th. The group of 16 P-38s took off at 1733 hours from their base in Warmwell, England. The pilots participating on this mission were Majors Glass (Squadron CO) and Bowman, Captain Hallford, and Lts. Patterson, Olsen, Heuermann, Roddick, Carson, Chickering, Ingerson, Johnson, Edmonds, McPherson, Schwarzrock, Greve, and Castel. Major Bowman had to abort soon after takeoff and returned to base due to a mechanical failure with his aircraft. Each plane was loaded with a 1,000 pound bomb and one 165 gallon belly tank. They rendezvoused with the A-20s over Southforland, England, escorted them to Bruz, then flew cover for them while they bombed the petroleum depot and fuel trucks there.

By the time the 429th was to bomb, the element of surprise was lost as the flak became very heavy. Despite the loss of surprise, it is believed the 429th achieved better bombing results than the A-20s. All of Captain Hallford's flight made direct hits on the petroleum depot. Observation of bombing results was made difficult due to ground fire and the smoke and dust from the A-20's bombs. But the 429th's bombs had been planted directly on their designated targets. By the time the 429th had dropped all of their bombs, the A-20s had left the area and flew back to home base without an escort. The 429th landed back at Warmwell at 2005 hours. The consensus of the pilots was that they did not like the new arrangement of combining escort duty with bombing.

The 428th Fighter Squadron flew a similar A-20 escort/bombing mission that day, but their target was a depot at Domfront.
I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions and I'll do my best to answer them.

A Bientot, Gary Koch

[Henofred]

Hello/Bonjour,

I am a bit late but thank you Zoran, I already knew this website.

Thank you also for all these additional details Gary, great!

Best regards,
Frederic

[Eagle0025]

Bonjour Frederic,
I sent you an email but for the benefit of the forum I have some more details on the Bruz mission.


Per 9th Air Force OPREPs for 24 June 44, the A-20s on the Bruz mission were from the 409th Bomb Group. They took off with 36 ships from Little Walden, England between 1704 and 1723 hours. There were two aborts. 34 A-20s, each carrying 4x500 pound bombs, arrived over the target at 1853 hours. Weather was clear and visibility unlimited. Light to medium flak with some inaccurate heavy flak.



The Group bombed in a two box formation from 12,000 to 12,500 feet. Bombing results were unobserved. No mention of their P-38 escort. The first box could not locate their aiming point so they bombed the aiming point of the second box. The second box bombed their correct aiming point. The Group returned to Little Walden between 2029 and 2044 hours. The Group experienced no losses or damaged aircraft.


Cheers, Gary

[Henofred]

I completely agree with you Gary, the answer must be shared with all...these are the basis of a mutual aid forum. Thanks a lot for all these details, it is more than I expected.

All the best,
Frederic