https://barrycountyhistoryportal.org/files/original/12/292/Dibble_Text0226.pdf d7d36c0ab884c15c03ff6b1f10410876 PDF Text Text C ONF ID E N T IA L "(Equals British Secret"}" HEADQUARTERS 42ND WING (US) A-2 Section APO 520 D-l-7 30'August 1943. DAILY SUMMARY NUMBER 65 PERIOD: • 0001 to 2400 hrs..30. August 1943« ■ TODAYS OPERATIONS taSSIONS; SORTIES :■ OPERATIONS TO DATE 405 9,871 ■LOSSES; ' B-26's ,p-40's rP-38»s MISSING: ^257? ■40's -3.8’s r F Lt I VICTORIES '• -ln t,he Air; .• Destroyed . ..probables . ■.Damaged On the Ground; ^Destroyed ... Probables ■ •■v" ■; Damaged • W.B-26 of .319 Bomb Grot jup.listed as missing sing on Summary #61 is now considered lost, ™.,Pr38 .of 1st. Fighterr Group listed as missing r.^ on Summary #63 is now safe,- 5 P-38*:'s ..' are still missing. 1. 319th Bomb Group - At 0940 hrs. 27 B-26's took off to bomb RR M/Yds' .£*:’at 'AVERSA.. 8 A/C returned early, all mechanical; 4 armament, 4 engineering. 19 A/C...dropped, 3.6 x 500 Inst & 45 sec tail, 71 x 500 .1 nose & 45 sec tail bombs "rele.target at 1200 hrs- from 10,200 - 9,600 ft. 6 bombs returned to base failed to Lease. 18 A/C returned at 1408 hrs. 1 is at PALERMO,. RESULTS: Excellent coverage of ,.tar'get { area with many direct-hits observed in center portion of M/yd and on ware'housesy,beyond,I. . 2 big explosions in warehouse area and many fires among freight & in.M/Y. A few bombs were short. 6 tracks full of cars at VILLA LITERNO OBSERVATIONS: M/Y at target still congested with cars. 6 tracks of cars seen in M/Y.of. J,....town . 3Wn Jjust ust E.E. °off AVERSA. ENEMY AIR: About 50-60 E/A, mostly ME 109’sne ME ■■with', some .’s, .FW 190's, ME;210 210fs,-.FlV 190’s, MA 200’s, RE 2001’s intercepted the formation just c a.before BK-r-.T .reaching -aching coast. Many vwere engaged by the escort and a big battle took place coast'.on'the oyer', coast Lon. the Way in, leavingI the bombers unescorted over the target. ■ 4 ME 109's made a-head-on attack from above on c 1st 2 flights while at same time 12-15 E/a 9 .rear of the formation —“- in pairs and threes. 1 Tan P-38 followed the ' ery -low for about 175 miles from the coast. Claims: 9 ME 109’s ‘I. 1 Ma' ed by bombers; 1 ME . 4E 109 probably destroyed; 6 ME 109's and 1 RE 2001 e.veral other E/A incliluding another Tan P-38 wer.e seen destroyed'Presumably 'm/? °ar3' �CONFIDENTIAL (Equals British Secret}" by escort. P P-38 and 1 Me 109 seen to collide in the air. SHIPPING: 2 large barges headed N just N of mouth of VOLlURNO River at 1155 hrs. . 2 small Naval vessels possible PT boats, headed N at high speed off MONDRAGONE at 1212. 1 Tanker, and 5 small M/V's at POZZUOLI., . FLAK: Slight Heavy fairly accurate from ALBANOVA and target area. Slight Heavy inaccurate from CAPUA A/D and from.vicinity of CASTLE VOLTURNO. WEATHER’ 4/10 scattered, CAVU and slight haze over target. Additional Observation; 1 Crew reports an object flat on both ends about 18" long, 6" in diameter, having passed his wing, believed to be an aerial bomb. It went out of sight without exploding. Comment: Excellent P-38 escort. 2. 325th Fighter Group - At 1220 hrs. 48.P-40's took off to Dive Bomb DECIMOMANNU RR Bridge and strafe targets of opportunity. None returned early. DECIM( 8 A/c A/C dropped 8 x 500 inst nose .045 tail on target at 1330 hours from 8,000 to 1,000 ft. 48 A/C returned at 1450 hours. RESULTS: All bombs dropped in target. First 4 bombs were very near misses, 1 falling immediately alongside and 3 within ’5.*-2Q yards of the bridge. Last four dropped in same area, but due to dust actual pin-pointing was impossible.' 2 P-40's strafed Radar Station at PULA, many pieces seen to fly and installation believed to be partially destroyed, OBSERVATIONS: At DECIMOMANNU A/D 1 ju 290 at S edge of the a/D, 2 transports and 2 S/e. At CAPOTERRA no a/c visible at ELMAS s/p base 1 white and 1 dark S/P visible. ENEMY AIR: At 1345 hours 8 ME 109’s attacked P-40's oyer c. SPARTIVENTO. They dived at the form ation but when'turned into disappeared toward.the N, Two other Me 109's did the same thing shortly afterwards. 1 ME.109 followed formation S from the target area to a point approximately 10 miles S of C. TEULADA, but was not engaged. ENEMY SHIPPING: . 1 Medium m/v anchored at 39 deg 12’ N 09 deg 0?’ E, and 2 medium M/v eanchored at 39 deg 11' N-9 deg 09' E; 3 medium size m/v about 2 miles E of POETTO. FLAK: Slight heavy fairly accurate over the target and from a point 6 miles S of the target; at CAPOTERRA moderate heavy inaccurate; At PULA very ini itense accurate small arm fire. WEATHER: CAVU. 1st. Fighter Group - At 0950 hours 48 P-38's took off to escort B-26’s of 319th B.G. to AVERSA M/y. 4 returned early, P-38's were in target area at '1200 hours altitude was 11,500 ft/ 28 P-38's were down at base at 1713 hrs, 1 P-38 down at ROCC;. DI FAI.CO, 1 down at B0 RIZZO, 1 down at TEI'MINI, all in Sicily. 13 w-38is missing. RESULTS; . Smoke in Target Area. OBSERVATIONS: Following obs<servations probably contain duplications. Observed 1 P-38 explode in air; 1 P-38 pilot bail out over water; 1 "-38 on fire dive into the water at 13 deg E 40 deg 30' N; l-?38 burst into flames over -water at 1220 hrs; 2 ^-SS's crash into water F-7 of. ISCHIA’ Island. One parachute seen to open at 1225 hrs, location 13 deg 40' E 40 deg 42' N. CLAIMS; Destroyed 5 ”E 109's, 1MA 202, 1 FL’ 190. Probably destroyed 3 ”E 109'3. Damaged 3 109's and 2 LA 202's. IT COUNTERS: As p-38's reached coast of Italy 1155 hrs, through target area 100 miles back out to sea, they encountered 60-75 E/A composed of ?'E 1O9,’’A2O2, F? 190's, Pilots believe they saw some enemy operated Spitfires and absolutely identified 1 P-38 with black crosses on it. . Some'E/A were black, some were light blue with yellow spinners, 4 ME 109's were pink, e/a first a ttacked cut of the sun, then they attacked in all directions in 2's, 3's, and 4's, Some attacks were in half circle formation,, e/a attacked bombers just after.bomb run but were driven off by our fighters. During encounter, our fighters kept edging the E/A out to sea and bringing them down almost to the deck. Bombers, after bomb run, passed over the encounter. Running fight took place P-38's were engaged by new Enemy formation of‘ME 109's with belly tanks bombs. e/a attacked aggressively and encounter lasted until ICO miles off coast. Pilots believe aerial bombs -were used. Halfway back to base a HOMING of 140 deg was re ceived over radio. This would have lead formation back to Italy, believed to be enemy station. FLAK: Few bursts of light inaccurate flak from coast. .’FATHER: CAVU,. - 2 - Twals British {otJ I- �/) T- CONFIDENTIAL "(Equals British SECRET) First phase Bomb Damage Assessment Report AVERSA MARSHALLING YARDS & STORES DEPOT, ITALY: (319th B.G., 30/8/43, 1200 hrs, 107 x 500 bombs dropped). Quality of photos: Excellent Quality of photo coverage: Good. There has been no movement of the railroad cars in the marshalling; yard since the :ars in the yard. raid of 28/8/43. There still remain approximately 1000 railroad cs A concentration of at least 14 hits cut across the center of the marshalling yard, j sted Many of these hits struck the rail line running through the yard. The congesi book area of cars received numerous hits. Three explosions with resulting fires tc place among these cars. A further three hits landed among the cars at the N end of the yard. The stores depot warehouses at the N end of the yard received 20 hits am many damaging near misses. A large explosion resulted in one of the warehouses. Severe damage was done to the spurs running ling between the warehouses and to freight edge cars there. The warehouse sheds on the W central ed' ” of the yards received hits. Many bombs fe" sll short of the target and two small c.:lusters overshot the target. The damage done by 1the three raids of B-26's on 28/8/43 is visible on these photographs. Three hits have destroyed ’ ' ’ two tracks on the line running through the yard at the N end of the yard. Slight damagej was done on the line farther to the N. Several hits have blown a hole apprqximalitely 50 x 50 feet in the W warehouse of the S group of four warehouses. S . of the yards ~ ,six .hits ’- ‘ts have cut two tracks.in four places and damaged iged two tracks. tracks./ In the stores depot depot/directly S of the marshalling yard many iny hits have cut three of of' the four tracks in the area, derailed 10 freight cars,, definitely destroyed two freight cars, and ..damaged many other cars. In additi lion piles of stores received hits.' DISTRIBUTION: "A" ADAMS,. A -2. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource James P. Dibble: The Day of Armageddon - August 30, 1943 Description An account of the resource From Jim Dibble's account titled "The Day of Armegeddon" included in this collection: "Following the invasion of Sicily in July 1943, the missions flown out of North Africa by the 1st Fighter Group pilots in their P-38 Lightnings had a common objective of preparing for the invasion at Salerno, Italy by the United States Fifth Army." A mission on August 25th was highly successful, with a loss of only 8 P-38's. The 1st Fighter Group earned a Presidential Distinguished Unit Citation for their efforts, but the August 30 mission, for which they would earn a second citation, was not so easy. See mission reports, photos, first hand accounts and more information about this infamous air battle known as The Day of Armageddon. Jump to other sections of the collection: <ul><li><a href="https://www.barrycountyhistoryportal.org/collections/show/5">James P. Dibble: World War II P-38 Fighter Pilot</a><ul><li><a href="https://www.barrycountyhistoryportal.org/collections/show/6">His Early Life</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.barrycountyhistoryportal.org/collections/show/7">High School into the Army Air Corps</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.barrycountyhistoryportal.org/collections/show/8">Flight Training</a><ul><li><a href="https://www.barrycountyhistoryportal.org/collections/show/17">We Got Married!</a></li> </ul></li> <li><a href="https://www.barrycountyhistoryportal.org/collections/show/9">Combat!</a><ul><li><a href="https://www.barrycountyhistoryportal.org/collections/show/10">Mission Reports</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.barrycountyhistoryportal.org/collections/show/11">Letters Home</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.barrycountyhistoryportal.org/collections/show/16">Flying with Eisenhower</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.barrycountyhistoryportal.org/collections/show/12">The Day of Armageddon - August 30, 1943</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.barrycountyhistoryportal.org/collections/show/13">Killed in Action</a></li> </ul></li> <li><a href="https://www.barrycountyhistoryportal.org/collections/show/14">The Search for Answers</a><ul><li><a href="https://www.barrycountyhistoryportal.org/collections/show/15">The Monument in Padula, Italy</a></li> </ul></li> </ul></li> </ul> <ul><li> <ul><li><a href="http://omeka/collections/show/15"></a></li> </ul></li> </ul> Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Typed document Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 42nd Wing Daily Summary for August 30, 1943 Subject The topic of the resource World War II. August 30, 1943. Description An account of the resource 42nd Wing Daily Summary for August 30, 1943. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Mission report Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource unknown Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 8/30/1943 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-NC/1.0/ Rights Holder A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource. Hastings Public Library Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Jim Dibble Date Accepted Date of acceptance of the resource. Examples of resources to which a Date Accepted may be relevant are a thesis (accepted by a university department) or an article (accepted by a journal). 1/18/2022