The Mission for the 445th Bomb Gp, 700th Squadron: 20 February 1944 (13:30 GER)

Bombing of Brunswick, Germany (Braunschweig, Deutschland) - Germany's biggest center for aircraft industry and engineering.

The Americans flew heavily escorted missions against airframe manufacturing and assembly plants and other targets in numerous German cities including: Leipzig, Brunswick, Gotha, Regensburg, Schweinfurt, Augsburg, Stuttgart and Steyr. In six days, the Eighth Air Force bombers based in England flew more than 3,000 sorties and the Fifteenth Air Force based in Italy more than 500. Together they dropped roughly 10,000 tons of bombs.

During Big Week the Eighth Air Force lost 97 B-17s, 40 B-24s, and another 20 scrapped due to damage.[5] The Fifteenth Air Force lost 90 aircraft and American fighter losses stood at 28. Although these numbers are high in absolute terms, the numbers of bombers involved in the missions were much higher than previously, and the losses represented a much smaller percentage of the attacking force. The earlier Schweinfurt missions cost the force just under 30% of their aircraft; for the Big Week it was under 7%. (source Wikipedia)

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Brunswick, Germany was bombed 6 times in WWII

17 Aug 1940 RAF
11 Jan 1944 RAF
20 Feb 1944 8AF (Joe Gillespie's mission - Brunswick, Germany)
21 Feb 1944 8AF
14 Oct 1944 RAF (massive fires destroy old downtown)
03 Mar 1945 RAF

Joseph H Gillespie