Petar
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Mission - Oil Tanks, 08-07-1944
Browsing the internet i have come upon on this picture. It represents bombing of my home-town, Novi Sad on 7.august 1944. I am writing a work about that day, so if you can help me with some information I would be very grathefull. In Serbia(ex Yugoslavia) little is known about Allied bombings durign Second world war becouse during to Cold war Yugoslavia was in communist block. Thanks for the time and help!
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RSwank
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Re:Mission - Oil Tanks in Novi Sad, 08-07-1944
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Starting with the Air Force Chronology for that day, for the 15th AF. 7 Aug 44 Fifteenth AF 353 B-17’s and B-24’s bomb 2 synthetic oil refineries at Blechhammer; over 300 ftrs provide spt. 76 B-24’s hit Alibunar A/F and Novi Sad oil facilities. HBs and ftrs claim nearly 30 aircraft shot down. The photo you show references the 98th Bomb Group. Tara Copp has a website for the 98th Bomb Group here: http://taracopp.smugmug.com/98th-Bombardment-Group-WWII The is a collection of photos of many of the documents for the 98th BG. Since they are "photos" of documents it can be hard to search, you really need to know what you are looking for. Here is a link to a page which relates to the 7 Aug mission. it lists the planes that took part. http://www.taracopp.com/98th-Bombardment-Group-WWII/98th-BG-417-Missions/10651767_mBKFGP#!i=741126465&k=zyZZt&lb=1&s=X2 It is not clear to me if another Bomb Group also targeted Novi Sad that day, as the 98th only sent 28 planes to Novi Sad according to the list. It is possible that all the other planes making up the total 76 planes all bombed Alibunar, I don't know. I do know that of the four bomb groups in the 47th wing, the 449th and 450th bombed the airfield at Alibunar, so if any other group was involved, it would have been the 376th BG. (Added later, I was able to find the 376th mission list in the Internet Archives, they did not fly on 7 August, so it would appear it was only the 98th that bombed Novi Sad on that date.) Also, I cannot find the 98th BG mission summary pages on her site for the 7 Aug mission. These summaries appear by date toward the bottom of the first page of her website. I can find the mission summary pages for the 9 Aug mission for example, but not the 7th. Perhaps they were misfiled. Maybe someone else has some ideas.
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mcoffee
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Re:Mission - Oil Tanks in Novi Sad, 08-07-1944
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Per Richard Davis' work, 25 a/c bombed Novi Sad on 7 August dropping 59.5 tons of H.E. bombs, so the 98th was the only group. His numbers reflect those actually bombing, so the 98th had 3 early returns.
The 449th and 450th hit Alibunar with a combined total of 52 aircraft and 113.4 tons of fragmentary bombs.
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Petar
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Re:Mission - Oil Tanks in Novi Sad, 08-07-1944
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According to Yugoslav data, there were in action 25 bombers i 15 fighter planes? I apologize for my ignorance . if someone could interpret me this document(THANKS A LOT FOR HELP ) http://www.taracopp.com/98th-Bombardment-Group-WWII/98th-BG-417-Missions/10651767_mBKFGP#!i=741126465&k=zyZZt&lb=1&s=X2 (how many bombers and fighter planes were in mission, what means tb). Novi Sad was bombed in two waves, first was on west part of the town(oil tanks) and second on channel and food factory. Civilian death toll was 9 people. Food factory was damaged,one train and two waggons for transport of oil were destroyed. Big thanks and regard from Serbia!
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RSwank
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Re:Mission - Oil Tanks in Novi Sad, 08-07-1944
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The document is the list of plane that flew the mission. The first column lists by squadron starting with the 343rd then the 344th, etc, the final 3 digits of the tail number of the plane and the plane's letter code. Next is the pilot's name. The Co-pilot column is blank. Then the time the plane took off and the time it landed upon return. Then a statement of whether the plane Completed the Mission or aborted for a given reason. If you look at the return times for the two planes on this list that seem to have aborted, one because of a gas leak and another due to a loose oil cap, you can see they returned early. As was stated above, only 25 planes flew the mission so the other abort may be the plane missing a return time. Another possibility is that the 3rd plane flew the mission but could not drop its bombs on the target. From what you said, is this the "channel and food factory" area? If two separate areas were targeted then the comment on the bomb plot photo you have which says "no photo coverage available of second section's bombing" must refer to the 2nd target. I think the tf .025 is the time delay on the bomb fusing (which may be a tail fuse - tf) . They go off .025 seconds after they first hit. This would allow them to go down inside the oil tank or to pass through the roof of a building before exploding. Also on the photo is the altitude at which the bombs were released, 23,000 feet and I think the course the planes were flying, 12 degrees.
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Petar
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Re:Mission - Oil Tanks in Novi Sad, 08-07-1944
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This picture shows where were oil tanks(on Serbian called Zimovnik). Oil thans were situated near city beach called Strand! Thanks, you explained me everything crystal clear!
This wasnt only bombing of Novi Sad,it is known that the planes bombed the city of 16, 30 and 31 August, and 6, 18 and 21 September. It is certain that bombing on 6th of september was the worst, when more than 100 Allied bombers handed over 260 tons of bombs.
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mcoffee
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Re:Mission - Oil Tanks in Novi Sad, 08-07-1944
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These are the other references to Novi Sad in the Richard Davis tables:
Cn AF City Date Target Sighting Atk Lost H.E. I.B. Frag Total
Yu 15 Novi Sad 8/30/1944 M/Y Vis 7 1 20.5 - - 20.5
Yu 15 Novi Sad 9/1/1944 M/Y Vis 17 0 42.5 - - 42.5
Yu 15 Novi Sad/East 9/6/1944 M/Y Vis 59 0 169.5 - - 169.5
Yu 15 Novi Sad/South 9/6/1944 M/Y Vis 57 0 151.3 - - 151.3
Yu 15 Novi Sad 9/18/1944 RR/Br Vis 47 0 134.5 - - 134.5
Yu 15 Novi Sad 9/21/1944 RR/Br Vis 46 0 118.0 - - 118.0
These tables only cover 15th AF. The other dates you mentioned may have been attacks be medium bomb groups which would not be included here.
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RSwank
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Re:Mission - Oil Tanks in Novi Sad, 08-07-1944
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Petar
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Re:Mission - Oil Tanks in Novi Sad, 08-07-1944
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