MISSION SUMMARY

Mission Number 172

 

  1. Date:  11 May 1945
     
  1. Code Name:  Leafstalk #1
     
  1. Target:  Kawanishi A/C Plant, Kobe  90.25-1702
     
  1. Participating Units:  58th, 73rd, and 314th Bombardment Wings
     
  1. Number A/C Airborne:  102
     
  1. % A/C Bombing Primary Target:  92%  (92 primary and 1 opportunity)
     
  1. Time Over Primary:  111153K  - 111103K
     
  1. Altitude of Attack:  15,700  - 20,000
     
  1. Weather Over Target:  4/10  -  8/10
     
  1. Total A/C Lost:  1
     
  1. Resume of Mission:  Strike photos showed 2 patterns of bursts in urban areas 10,000 feet W of Target.  Poor results indicated.  Several near misses on E side of Target.  Hits on seaplane ramp in SE corner of Target started fire.  Nine A/C were non-effective.  314th Wing A/C lost, crashed into ocean at take-off.  All 11 crew members killed.  Forty-one E/A sighted made 261 attacks.  Damaged 3 B-29’s.  Claims 9-22-15.  Enemy A/A damaged twenty aircraft.  Flak was heavy, meager to intense, and accurate to inaccurate.  Fourteen B-29’s landed at Iwo Jima.  Average Bomb Load:  11,313 lbs.  Average Fuel Reserve:  752 gallons.

 

 

 

  

    

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