MISSION SUMMARY

Mission Number 24

 

1. Date: 27 January 1945
    
2. Code Name: Enkindle # 3
    
3. Target: Tokyo (357) - Nakajima A/C Plant, Musashino
    
4. Participating Unit: 73rd BW
    
5. Number A/C Airborne: 74
    
6. % A/C Bombing Primary: 0 (0 Primary, 56 Secondary, 6 Last Resort and Opportunity)
    
7. Time Over Primary: 271504K - 271558K
    
8. Altitude of Attack: 24,500 - 29,600
    
9. Weather Over Target: 10/10
    
10. Total A/C Lost: 9
     
11. Resume of Mission: Mission planned for either Musashino (357) or Mitsubishi engine Factory (193) at Nagoya or if weather was bad, urban areas of Tokyo or Nagoya were to be bombed by radar.  Two aircraft were dispatched early as weather reconnaissance and reported that 357 would be Target.  Complete under-cast necessitated radar run on urban Tokyo.  Bombing results unobserved.  Twelve early returns.  Five aircraft lost to enemy action, two aircraft ditched on return, one aircraft crash-landed on return to base and one aircraft lost to survey.  Enemy fighter opposition of unparalleled intensity - 984 attacks.  Enemy aircraft destroyed sixty, probably destroyed seventeen and thirty-nine damaged.  Many ramming attempts.  AA heavy, moderate to intense, inaccurate to accurate.  Average bomb load: 6,000 lbs. Average gas reserve: 1,059 gallons.

 

 

 

  

  

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