A tale of two missions: Memmingen, July 18,1944 & Berlin, March 24, 1945.

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World War II - Essay

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A tale of two missions: Memmingen, July 18,1944 & Berlin, March 24, 1945.

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On July 18, 1944, the Fifteenth Air Force was in I the midst of an extensive strategic bombing campaign against enemy targets in Nazi Germany and other areas of Europe under Hitler's control. It marshaled twenty-one bombardment groups in five wings, and seven fighter escort groups in one wing, all based at various airfields in the Foggia area of east central Italy, near the Adriatic Sea. From those bases, the Fifteenth Air Force launched bombing missions to various strategic targets in Germany, Austria, Hungary, Rumania, northern Italy, Czechoslovakia, and occupied parts of France. (1)

Only one of the five bombardment wings, the 5th, with six bombardment groups, flew B-17 Flying Fortresses. The other four bombardment wings, with a total of fifteen bombardment groups assigned to them, flew B-24 Liberators. Both the B-17s and the B-24s were four-engine heavy bombers, of similar size but with slightly different characteristics. The B-17 could fly higher and was more survivable if hit by gunfire, and the B-24 could fly farther and faster. (2) Each of the twenty-one bombardment groups had four bombardment squadrons assigned to it. (3)

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Of the seven fighter escort groups, four flew P-51 Mustangs, the fastest and longest-range fighters in the Army Air Forces' (AAF) inventory, and the other three flew P-38 Lightnings, twin-engine fighters that were also fast and had a considerable range. By July 1944, the Fifteenth Air Force had relinquished its P-47 fighters because they had less range and lower speed. Six of the seven fighter groups each had three fighter squadrons assigned to it. The 332d Fighter Group had four: the 99th, 100th, 301st, and 302d Fighter Squadrons. The 332d was unique in other ways. It was the only one of the Fifteenth Air Force combat groups composed of African-Americans and the only one to enter combat in World War II. Because the pilots trained at Tuskegee, Alabama, they are sometimes called the "Tuskegee Airmen." (4)

The mission of the Fifteenth Air Force on July 18, 1944, was to attack a series of different targets. The four B-24 wings, and their fifteen bombardment groups and sixty bombardment squadrons, were to bomb targets in the Friedrichshafen area of southern Germany, including the Lowenthal airdrome, the Manze...

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