398th Bomb Group
Memorial
Association


Lt. Robert H. Dee, Jr.'s Diary
Co-Pilot, 601st Squadron

Dee's Mission No. 10 (again)

24 December 1944
Target: Koblenz, Germany

No. 10 (All Over Again)
Dec. 24, 1944

The target was Coblenz. The target was 2 power plants. I flew with a new crew (Bornstedt) to check them out, but we were delayed as 2 ships blew up on take-off. One bombardier and one ground man who was helping him get loose were killed.

We were flying low squadron with a composite group with Ridgewell and Bassingbourn. They left on course before we got there. We flew behind our group. We were in flak (moderate and accurate for 45 minutes). The tail position had holes right by the tail gunner, but he didn’t get hit. We also had two holes in the Tokyo (gas) tanks. We carried 38X100 GP’s. When we came back it was dark and we were diverted to Rattleston, but in peeling-off the 2 ships following landed at Lavenham (486th BG, 3rd Division). They lost 8 ships to fighters. We almost froze last night, and came back here this afternoon in trucks, (Christmas). It was good to clean up today. I didn’t get to Mass yesterday or today.

Editor's Note: The 381st was based in Ridgewell and the 91st in Bassingbourn. The 91st, the 381st, and the 398th formed the 1st Combat Wing of the 1st Air Division.

Notes:
  • Lt. Robert H. Dee, Jr. was the regular Co-Pilot for the Byron L. Magness 601st Crew. On occasion, he flew with other crews.
  • The above transcription was provided by Marty Dee, brother of Robert H. Dee, Jr.
  • 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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