Lt. Mark J. Woods, Jr.'s Diary

398th Bomb Group
Memorial
Association

Lt. Mark J. Woods, Jr.'s Diary
Navigator, 600th Squadron

Woods Mission No. 17

**20 June 1944**
**Target** **Hamburg, France**
Total combat time = 114:00 (6:42/mission) Date: June 20, 1944 Mission #17 Location of target: Hamburg, Germany Type of Target: Synthetic oil refinery in dock district Load: 2300 gals of gas, & 12-500 lb. bombs Altitude: 25,000 feet Flight Time: 7:30 hours Escort: P-47s & P-38s all the way Force of raid: 9 Combat wings. We were the eighth wing in line. Position: No.3 in low element of low squadron of lead group Opposition: Very intense flak, the heaviest that we have seen. Battle damage: #1 engine knocked out (oil and gas lines), 4 other holes Results: Visual bombing, hit target as briefed. Completely destroyed it Remarks: It was a very tough raid. We came in and went by target. Germans had a smoke screen up, but when we went by, they thought we were going to Berlin. We doubled back just as they quit screen, flak was very thick and remarkably accurate. Evasive action was very good, but the guns were a little better. I saw a plane from the wing in front of us go down in flames, saw 3 chutes; later I heard that 8 got out. Engine was hit after bombs away, got knocked out of formation and the plane was coming up directly underneath us. We almost stalled out climbing out of there on 3 engines. We missed him by 10 feet. We could not feather the engine, so had to let it windmill. We could not get back in formation, so I took over the navigation for us and brought the plane back from target. Mission was a success. We beat the Group back by cutting corners.

Notes:

Lt. Mark J. Woods, Jr. was a Navigator on Stanley R. Reed's 600th Squadron crew.
The above transcription was provided by Carolyn Woods and Joe K. Mansell.
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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