Loading List 1, Box I




Loading List 2, Box II




Primary Target area around MBS Coordinate (NGZ) vK969655
Extracted from GSGS-4416/AMS-M641 Sheet R1 - "Koln" 1:100:000 Military Topographic Map
(Downloaded from Map Archive of Wojskowy Instytut Geograficzny 1919 - 1939,
GSGS 4416 / AMS M641, 651, 671 Germany, Poland, Middle Danube 1:100,000,
Koln sheet)
(Note: This coordinate and map display represent the Primary Target Location, the Location actually attacked may differ)
(Annotated Full Map PDF)

Missing Air Crew Reports, Aircraft Accident Reports, and other incidents

Date	Report		A/C Serial # Type	Mis- sion #	Bomb Sq	Location	Personnel (Status when available)
Oct 8, 1944 Sunday	No_Report		43-21819 A-20G	154	668	near airstrip A-68	Kreh, Eldon B. (Not Injured) Schenck, Daniel R. (Not Injured) Shelton, Everett L. (Not Injured)

To view more information regarding an Incident/Report, click on the Report hyperlink.
( = Entries having actual Reports available for review.   = Entries having additional Images or Photos.)
To view an individual's Memorial page, click on the "Name" hyperlink.

Included are Box, Flight and Position; Bomb Squadron; Aircraft Serial Number, Fuselage Code and Model; and Crew Members
transcribed from individual mission Loading List documents by Chris and Mary Adams and Carl Sgamboti.
Some information, such as Squadron, Serial Number, etc. has been expanded from other documents.

Group and Unit Histories

Mission # 154 -- October 8, 1944, Sunday AM
Linnich, Germany -- Town

"416th Bombardment Group (L) - Group History 1944"
Transcribed from USAF Archives

The following day the town of Linnich was attacked. The airming point was the center of the town. Instructions in the Field Order permitted the Bombardiers to release their bombs if the target was obscured one minute after the E.T.A. over the target. The Bombardier had to be certain, however, that he had crossed the bomb line. The target area was blanketed with a dense haze. Lt Powell, Major Dunn's B-N in the lead plane of the first box, managed to pick out the target to score an excellent. All the other flights were forced to drop according to instructions. One of those "one-chance-in-a-million" incidents occured when the bombs from one ship fell out across the river east of Linnich. They hit in some warehouse-type buildings causing violent explosions and probable heavy damage. Flak hit the oil line in the right engine of Lt E.B. Kreh's plane. The left engine also began to miss when the ignition system was hit. He feathered the prop, and, with his left engine missing, he made it back to our lines. He crash-landed near airstrip A-68 without any injury to the crew and with the plane in a repairable condition.

"Attack Bombers, We Need You! A History of the 416th Bomb Group"
Ralph Conte
Pages 162 - 163

Mission #154 - 8 October - Linnich Town. The intent of this mission was to block travel through it to battle areas for the enemy and we were called upon to saturate bomb the major roadways through it. Major Dunn led Box I. Other flights were led by Captain Bartmus and Lt. Hardy, BN, Lts. Meagher and Burg, BN, and Lts. Greeley and Mitchell, BN plus Major Napier and Lt. Jones, BN. Results were recorded as excellent for the first flight bombs. Other flights had trouble picking up the aiming point due to haze and managed to drop their bombs effectively outside the main target, following previous instructions to bomb German territory if there were reasons to not bomb the aiming point. Light inaccurate flak came up, but you could not get Lt. Kreh and his gunners Sgts Shelton and Schenck to say that it was inaccurate. They took a direct hit, causing Kreh to nurture the plane as best he could, about ten minutes away from the target, when he had to crash land it 18 miles north of Reims, doing a good job by not hurting himself or the two gunners. They were picked up and returned to base. The plane was washed out.

Continuous rain for the next few days kept planes grounded. Personnel were assigned to "policing" work around the base and general cleanup. Many new crew members reported to the 416th, since a few original crews were nearing the magic "65" missions and back to the States category.

The 670th squadron was placed on "training" status for conversion to A-26 planes and transition They were non-operational for a few days.

"669th Bombardment Squadron (L) History"
Transcription from USAF Archives

A day later, on the 8th, the defended town of Linnich, Germany was the target. In the event the target could not be seen, the bombardiers were instructed to release one minute after the E.T.A. over the target. Only one flight picked out the target. Major Napier, Lt. Jones, B-N, leading a flight, released his bombs according to instructions. Results were unobserved, however.

"670th Bombardment Squadron (L) History"
Transcription from USAF Archives

Major Dunn led a mission on October 8th against Linnich, Germany. This mission was the last flown during the month for our squadron, as on October 13th we were put on a non-operational status while our crews completed training in the new "Invader" aircraft. The 670th was the first squadron to start and to complete this training. Bad weather badly hampered the efforts of the crews to become operational in the new planes in the desired time. On October 14th six aircraft of another squadron while on a practice mission became lost and flew over enemy occupied Dunkirk. One plane was shot down. and the other five damaged by flak.

"671st Bomb Squadron (L) Unit History"
Gordon Russell and Jim Kerns

October 8th, 1944

The 416th was assigned a rather new job on October 8th . They had bombed towns off the map on one or two occasions, but not on purpose. However, with the targets now on German soil the Ninth Bomb Division ordered the A-20s to give the town of Linnich, a small German village on the main highway leading northeast out of Aachen, a taste of saturation bombing. The purpose was to block the movement of enemy supplies and troop reinforcements moving up to the battle area.

Major Dunn, out of the 671st and now C.O. of the 670th Squadron led the formation and was a one-man army against the town. His bombardier managed to pick up the target through a thick haze and the bombs fell with an excellent concentration in the center of the town. Strikes blanketed buildings and roads, destroying the structures, and blocking the roads. This heavy haze prevented three of the flights from finding the A.P., but they salvoed their bombs one minute past the target a briefed. Damage resulted. Lt. Greenley and Lt. Mitchell led the 671st flight. Although their bombs fell 1700 feet from the D.M.P.I., they couldn't have done much more damage. A heavy concentration destroyed a highway bridge across a river and several hits were made on the main highway. Lt. Mitchell picked up the A.P. too late for proper synchronization due to the haze and the smoke.

Seven ships received battle damage, one crash landing near Reims. The crew was unhurt. Flak-free missions seem like a thing of the past.

[October 8, 1944], HQ Twelfth Army Group situation map Map showing Western Allies and Axis troop position details in Western Europe as of approximately 1200 hours, October 8, 1944 World War II Military Situation Maps Collection Library of Congress

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