Lt. Robert H. Dee, Jr.'s Diary

398th Bomb Group
Memorial
Association

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

Dee's Mission No. 19

**20 January 1945**
**Target:** **Bridge, Mannheim, Germany**
No.19 Jan. 20, 1945 The target was Mannheim. The MPI was a bridge. Mannheim is across the river from Ludwigshaven. The navigator couldn’t find the Debden buncher so we just made the formation as it was leaving on course. I forgot to turn off the filters at 15,000 ft. and we couldn’t get past 42” of Hg. We were behind the formation and didn’t see them drop their bombs. I couldn’t tell them to drop the bombs because my inter phone was out. 4 men passed out from lack of oxygen, We carried the bombs back. Flak was light and inaccurate, and no fighters. The weather was very bad and we just made the field when it started to snow. I checked out a new crew-pilot named Costanzo. I flew most of the mission.

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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