TARGET: OIL REFINERY
LUDWIGSHAFEN, GERMANY
8 SEPTEMBER, 1944

Thee Group returned to Ludwigshafen for the second mission in a row, forming one of the twenty-three combat wings of the 8th Air Force sent against an oil refinery, marshalling yards, a tank and armored vehicle factory, and an ordinance plant in the Rhineland. The primary and PFF targets were the same sections of the enormous I. B. Farbenindustrie as on the previous mission.

With Major Hozier as Air Commander, and Captain Russell M. Selwyn as pilot, the Group put thirty-six aircraft aloft. Flying ninth in the Division formation, the Group flew across France, passing just north of Pans, to an IP slightly west of Karlsruhe. The bombing, according to the field order, was to be by individual boxes, whether visual or PFF.

Lead crew Lt. Selwyn

At the target there was three to five-tenths cloud coverage, but also smoke from the bombs of the eight other wings first on the target. Photos subsequently indicated that the lead box bombs fell considerably beyond the MPI, some however landing in the marshalling yards, and the low box hit closer, the actual MPI being about 870 feet from the assigned target. There were no photos of the high box results.

Target Ludwigshafen, Germany

Flak, as on 3 September, was moderate to intense, but more accurate; seventeen ships sustained battle damage. None were lost and the Group returned from the target across France uneventfully except that it was necessary to fly at 28,000 feet in eastern France to avoid clouds.

Duration of mission 8 hours
Lt. Edwin B. Benson, 457th/749th bombardier: Mission 3. Ludwigshafen, Chem Factory. Time 8.00. Low. FLAK