398th Bomb Group
Memorial
Association


Lt. Robert J. Beckley's Diary
Navigator, 600th/601st Squadron

Beckley's Mission No. 33

24 December 1944
Target: Marshalling Yards, Koblenz, Germany
and
Airfield at Geissen, Germany

No. 33. Geissen-Koblenz, December 24, 1944:

6 hours 45 minutes flying time.

Bomb load 38 one-hundred pound GP bombs.

This was a maximum effort mission. Besides the three squadron comprising our regular group formation hitting at the marshalling yards of Koblenz, we also put up another squadron to form a composite group with Bassingbourne to bomb an airfield near Geissen to which our ship was assigned.

For our part it was a soft run for we saw only a few bursts of flak behind us after we dropped our bombs. We splattered the airfield right down the middle accomplishing our purpose of destroying the field, at least for a couple of days to prevent the German Air Force from supporting their ground forces in a push through our lines below Liege. At Koblenz our regular group hit heavy flak, but got through without a loss. We had three of our ships crash taking off in the zero zero. Flew as Blackwell’s navigator.

Notes:
  • Lt. Robert J. Beckley was the Navigator for the Linn R. Rogers crew.
  • The above transcription was provided by Ann Collins, daughter of Phillip Collins, Ball Turret Gunner on the 601st Saul Marias Crew.
  • This transcription is a reproduction of the original. Spelling and punctuation changes have been made to improve readability. In some circumstances, material may not have been transcribed or was rewritten.
  • Clarification of acronyms or special words or guesses of certain words are shown in brackets [ ].

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