This site is dedicated to the men who flew with the 445th Bomb Group out of Tibenham, England. No finer dedication can be found than the following - a dedication from a nephew about his uncle who flew with the 445th and made the ultimate sacrifice:

"This book is dedicated to my uncle, 2nd Lt Ralph T. Clapps, who was killed in action while serving as a copilot on a B-24 Liberator with the Eighth Air Force in England during WW II.

On February 24, 1944, his ship was on a mission to Gotha, Germany, when a rocket fired from a German fighter hit the nose of his Liberator. My uncle and his pilot fought the controls of their plane long enough for the surviving crewmembers to bail out. In contacting the survivors of that ill-fated crew almost 60 years after the event, they said there was not a day they did not think of the heroic efforts of my uncle and his pilot, 1Lt Sidney Swanson."

Used with permission from the book "359 And A Wake-Up" by Dennis R. Daniels.

HOT -- HOT --  HOT

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Mission of the Day

TUESDAY, 5 SEPTEMBER 1944

EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)

STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force):

3 missions are flown:

Mission 605:

739 bombers and 315 fighters are dispatched to SE Germany; 6 bombers are lost; during the missions, a P-51 shoots down a Swiss Bf 109 near Dubendorf.

203 of 218 B-17s attack a Stuttgart aero engine plant and targets of opportunity (4); 2 B-17s are lost and 109 damaged; 1 airman is KIA, 5 WIA and 18 MIA. Escort is provided by 147 of 160 P-51s; they claim 19-0-0 aircraft in the air and 14-0-27 on the ground; 2 P-51s are lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 4 damaged; 2 pilots are MIA.

277 of 303 B-17s hit a Ludwigshafen synthetic oil plant and target of opportunity (1); 2 B-17s are lost and 163 damaged; 2 airmen are KIA, 11 WIA and 18 MIA. Escort is provided by 155 P-51s; 1 P-51 is lost (pilot MIA) and 2 damaged.

183 of 218 B-24s hit Karlsruhe marshalling yard and targets of opportunity (2); 2 B-24s are lost, 4 damaged beyond repair and 78 damaged; 22 airmen are MIA.

Mission 606:

143 of 143 B-17s make a visual attack on enemy positions in the Brest, France area; 2 B-17s are lost and 1 damaged; 18 airmen are MIA. Escort is provided by 21 of 22 P-51s without loss.

Mission 608:

7 of 8 B-17s drop leaflets in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany during the night.

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