Typical bomb loads for a bombing operation carried out on the Railway Yards at Dortmund, Germany, 7th March 1945
Since the main role of the 492nd Bomb Group whilst at Harrington was to supply resistance groups in Occupied Europe then when those operations were scaled down the aircraft were put onto other duties including trucking missions to ship petrol to Patton’s tanks and bombing missions.
Only 21 bombing missions were carried out by the 492nd Bomb Group from Harrington, these all taking place during 1945. This raid, taking place on the night of the 6/7th March, involved 21 aircraft of the 858th and 857th Bomb Squadrons of the 492ndBomb Group stationed at Harrington which dropped 98 of the 500 lb GP bombs and 102 of the M17 incendiaries.
The success of this raid can perhaps be ascertained when it was considered necessary to visit the same target the following night, when 15 B24’s were again dispatched to Dortmund Marshalling Yards where they dropped a further 37.5 tons of bombs
858 Squadron – Pathfinder PFF Aircraft
The B-24 bomber, 44-49338, one of those involved in this bombing raid used 1930 gallons of fuel, the mission time was 6 hrs 51 mins. The rate of fuel consumption was calculated as 282 galls/hr
The bomb payload carried by this aircraft consisted of:
4 No. 500 lb AN-M64 Comp B (500 lb GP Bombs with a fuze setting in the nose of 1/10, and in the tail 1/40).
3 No. T.I. 250 lb Red (Target Indicators with a fuze setting for 4,000 ft above sea level).
4 No. M17A-1 (500lb Aimable Incendiary Clusters with a fuze setting of 30 secs).
1 No. 4.5 Green Wanganui Skymarker Flare ( Fuse setting for 4,000 ft above sea level).
1 No. M46 Photo Flash (with a fuse setting of 30 secs).
(Click on the name of the bomb for more information)
The bombs were dropped from a height of 19,500 ft. The length of the bombing run was 6 minutes duration
This aircraft was equipped with K-19 night camera – hence the need for the Photo Flash bomb
857th Bombardment Squadron – Main Bombing Force
The B-24 aircraft, 41-29607, also one of the aircraft involved in this raid used 1960 galls fuel, the mission time was also 6 hrs 51 mins and the rate of fuel consumption was therefore calculated as 286 galls/hr
The bomb payload carried by this particular aircraft consisted of:
4 No. 500 AN-M64 Comp B (500 lb GP Bombs with a fuze setting in the nose of 1/10, and in the tail 1/40)
6 No. M17A-1 (500lb Aimable Incendiary Clusters with a fuze setting of 30 secs)
Other missions included the following ordnance not indicated above
500 lb AN-M64A-1 GP Bombs
500 lb AN-M61A-1 GP Bombs
500 lb AN-M43 GP Bombs
Green Target Indicators
Yellow Target Indicators
Red Wanganui Flares