TARGET: LIQUID OXYGEN PLANT
HENIN-LIETARD, GERMANY
25 AUGUST, 1944
With thirty-six planes already en route to Peenemunde to attack a plant manufacturing fuel for rocket fighters, the 457th was alerted for a mission to attack a plant in France, manufacturing liquid oxygen to be used in the V-2 rocket bomb. Four similar plants in the Lille area were assigned to other First Division Groups. The target of the 457th Group was located at Henin-Lietard near Douai.
Major Snow, Air Commander, flying with Captain Beicher, led the twelve planes in the mid-afternoon takeoff. The flight to the target was over a circuitous route which left England and went south around Le Havre, to approach the target from the south. At the IP, the low squadron of six ships uncovered the lead squadron as the bombing was to be done in six plane boxes.
The lead box had difficulty in picking up the target because of thick ground haze, but dropped the bombs squarely on the plant. There was one extremely large explosion and another smaller one. Black smoke shot thousands of feet into the air.
The low box did not pick up the target so a second run was made. This time the target was identified too late and when the bombs were released they fell 3000 feet away, but near a target assigned to the 301St Group. Rally and return were without incident.