445th Bomb Group (H)

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.

"Group Poop"

This is a new section just added which contains information about on-going and future projects regarding the 445th Bomb Group. If any viewers have ideas about what they'd like to see, please feel free to contact the webmaster with your ideas.

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Mission of the Day

FRIDAY, 7 JANUARY 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force):

2 mission are flown:

Mission 178:

351 of 382 B-17's and 69 of 120 B-24's hit the I. G. Farben Industries plant at Ludwigshafen, Germany; they claim 30-6-17 Luftwaffe aircraft; 5 B-17's and 17 B-24's are lost, 2 B-17's and 2 B-24's are damaged beyond repair and 104 B-17's and 18 B-24's are damaged; casualties are 14 KIA, 13 WIA and 121 MIA. 71 P-38's, 463 P-47's and 37 Ninth Air Force P-51's escort; they claim 7-0-3 Luftwaffe aircraft; 1 P-38 and 5 P-47's are lost and 1 P-47 is damaged; casualties are 6 MIA.

Mission 179:

During the evening, 5 B-17's drop 1.08 million leaflets on Paris, Chartres, Caen and Evreux, France without loss.

Msn #	Date	Location	Target Description	Bomb Load	Acft T/O	Acft at Target	Acft Lost
10	01/07/44	Ludwigshafen, Germany	I. G. Farben Industries Plant	10x500GP	18	16	0

Webmaster: Mike Simpson

Last Updated: April 23, 2011