The first aborted run to Berlin....mission #9

[DaddyMax]

Mission No 7
February 28, 1944
Hayons, France

The target was some construction work that the Germans are putting up. We were at an altitude of 12,000 ft and it was 20 degrees below zero. We saw little flak and no enemy fighters. We made two runs over the target but didn?t drop the bombs, because of the clouds. No escorts



Mission No 8
February 29, 1944
Brunswick, Germany

The target was the German Airplane manufacturing center of Brunswick. We were at an altitude of 23,000 ft and it was 40 degrees below zero. We had quite a bit of flak coming up at us. I saw no enemy fighters. I didn?t see the bombs hit the target because of the solid clouds. We had good fighter escorts from our P-38, P-47 and P-51?s. We crossed Holland and part of Belgium.



Mission No 9
March 3, 1944
Berlin, Germany

We were over Germany about an hour and the weather was bad. We climbed to 29,000 ft and the vapor trails were so thick from the planes, that we couldn?t see the planes in front of us. It was 65 degrees below zero. Before we turned back, a few other groups ahead of us turned back and I saw two B17?s hit head on. When they hit I could see the metal melting. We could not see the ground because of the solid clouds. We came back to England all right.

[delta1/28]

My cousin, Ralph Burbridge, may have been on that mission. I know he was on one of the first Berlin raids. Ralph was bombardier on the B-17 "All American" (the famous photo of a B-17 still flying after it had been torn in two by an enemy plane collision during a raid on Bizerta, Tunisia, 1 Feb 43).