TARGET: SYNTHETIC OIL REFINERIES
CHEMNITZ, GERMANY
5 MARCH, 1945

The synthetic oil refineries at Ruhland were again the primary targets. The Group comprised the 94th B Combat Wing with Major Stann as Air Commander. Some difficulty was encountered with assembly because of thick haze.

On the assembly course, navigational aids were not operating normally. As a result, the Group was south of the briefed course. Course was altered in order to intercept the Division formation. However, the position of the Group with respect to the Division formation could not be determined, because an undercast, combined with thick haze and dense contrails, limited visibility and prevented the Group from maintaining visual contact with the rest of the Division. Route to the target was flown at distances varying from five to ten miles south of course because of different weather conditions and poor navigational aids. There was no possibility of a visual run, and it was decided to make a run on the secondary target, Chemnitz.

An IP was selected for a bomb run on the secondary target. Cloud coverage was ten tenths and it was necessary to bomb the secondary target by means of PFF equipment, in Group formation. An extremely short run was made because PFF equipment was weak and the target could not be identified until the Group was within fourteen miles distance.

Bombs were dropped from 27,800 feet. No results of bombing were observed because often tenths clouds. Flak was light and no aircraft sustained damage.