Loading List 1, Box I




Loading List 2, Box II, III and Special Flight




Route Map




Primary Target area around MBS Coordinate (NGZ) rA396612
Extracted from GSGS-4416/AMS-M641 Sheet P1 - "Bocholt" 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,
Bocholt 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)
Mar 22, 1945 Thursday	No_Report		41-39332 A-26B	247	671	Station Y-55	Fero, Donald A. (Not Injured) Rojas, Andrew A. (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 # 247 -- March 22, 1945, Thursday AM
Borken, Germany -- Built Up Area and Flak Positions

"416th Bombardment Group (L) - Group History 1945"
Transcribed from USAF Archives

The sudden concentration on the area on the east bank of the Rhine above the Ruhr was an indication of a possible jump across the Rhine in that area. Two more missions on the 22nd hit the town of Borken in this area. In the morning, dropping 100-pound bombs, 34 aircraft scored excellent to superior results. Two flights misidentified the target and bombed the towns of Sudlohn and Stadtlohn with good results. Three planes scored excellent results with 260-pound fragmentation bombs on flak positions. Flak was moderate and accurate and six planes suffered battle damage. Lt Fero's plane was unable to make it back to the base because of battle damage and crash-landed near Station Y-55. Although the plane was washed out, neither he nor his gunner, Staff Sergeant A.A. Rojas, were injured. The box leaders were Major Dunn, Lt. Brewer and F/O A.J. Lehneis, B&N, and Lt. C.J. Brown, Lt. Kerns, B-N.

"Attack Bombers, We Need You! A History of the 416th Bomb Group"
Ralph Conte
Pages 237 - 238

Mission #247 - 22 March - AM - Berken Communication Center. Major Dunn with Lt. Brewer and F/O Lehneis BNs led Box I. Lts. Brown and Kerns BN, led Box II. The concentration of troops and equipment on the east bankof the Rhine River signaled a major thrust by Germans. This mission was to invalidate those efforts, by bombing fragmentation bombs in the area. The first box and its flights did well, scoring superior results. Two flights of the second box mis-identified the target and bombed the town of Sudlohn and Stedlohn with good results. Lt. Fero's plane received flak hits on the left engine and the right engine started smoking. Sgt. Rojas was the gunner with Fero. Fero salvoed his bombs and flew toward friendly territory. His bomb bay doors would not close after the bombs dropped, so Rojas had to pump the doors shut by hand. As they approached the field at Station A-55, they found the wheels would not lock, so he went in on his belly, in what was classified as a brilliant crash landing with no injuries.

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

Two missions were flown again on the 22nd of the month. In the morning, the built up area of Borken was attacked. Lt. Mulgrew, flying with Lt. Jordan, bombed with unsatisfactory results. A malfunction in the release system was responsible. However, the results of Flight Officer Cardinale's bombing were believed to have been very good. A number of hits were seen in the town. Capt. Dufault was the pilot of the aircraft.

The second mission of the day was flown against the same target area. Smoke and haze obscured the target, which necessitated the use of "gee" equipment for bombing. Lt. Blomgren and Lt. Johnson led the second flight of the second box, while Lts. Turner and McGivern led the second flight of the third box.

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

The Borken Communications Center was bombed with superior results on the morning mission of 22nd March, with twelve of our crews taking part.

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

March 22nd, 1945

The all out pounding to soften up the Munster area, north of the Ruhr continued on March 22nd, 1945 with the whole Ninth Bombardment Division concentrating its blows on communications centers in this area. The 416th Group went out twice to hit the town of Berken and returned without loss, although Lt. "Fearless" Fero crash landed his ship at Venlo, near the German border, on the morning mission.

In the morning, eight flights attacked the town with fair to superior results. Major Dunn and Lt. Brewer, leading the formation, scored an excellent with hits on buildings and roads. Lt. Brown and Lt. Kerns misidentified the primary due to smoke and hit the nearby town of Sudlohn with excellent results. Counting the quarters assessed for leads, this was Major DunnÆs 65th mission, but the Major does not plan to quit. Leading formations for well over a year and scoring just about the best bombing records in the Group, Major Dunn surely deserves a trip to the States, but as he puts it: "With the was still on, I might as well stick it out".

Lt. Fero had a harrowing experience on this mission. He received several hits in the left engine coming in to the target. At the same time his right engine began to leak oil. He salvoed his bombs close to the target and headed for friendly territory. He had all he could do to keep the plane in the air and finally spotted the airfield at Venlo. After dropping his bombs his bomb-bay doors would not close so he had to pump them up by hand. He racked it back and dropped the plane in on an open field just beyond the airstrip. Making a brilliant crash-landing, neither he nor his gunner, S/Sgt.Rojas, were injured.

When the formation returned to the same target in the afternoon with incendiaries, the crews found the area covered with smoke and haze, and had to bomb on Gee with undetermined results. No flak was encountered and all crews returned safely.

The tactical significance of these recent operations was given in a 9th Bomb Division release, which follows:

Communications inside seventeen German towns north of the Ruhr had been battered out of usefulness and smoke still covered the entire town areas late Thursday, after some 1400 separate attacks by Ninth Bombardment Division Marauders, Invaders and Havocs. These attacks have been aimed at sealing off the entire road and rail system in the northern sector of the Rhine.

Since the air offensive opened in mid-morning Wednesday, nearly 2700 tons of high explosives and incendiaries have been rained on main road junctions, supply depots and other military installations, in the key German towns.

Located in a 50-mile arc running mid-way between Munster and the Rhine, each town is a key in the enemyÆs chain of communications north of the Ruhr.

Object of the current program is to cut off all road and rail facilities leading east from the northern sector of the Rhine, thereby sealing off the battle area north of the Ruhr Valley.

[March 22, 1945], HQ Twelfth Army Group situation map Map showing Western Allies and Axis troop position details in Western Europe as of approximately 1200 hours, March 22, 1945 World War II Military Situation Maps Collection Library of Congress

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