340th Bomb Group History

340th Bombardment Group History

340th BG Patch

340th BG Squadron Insignia
	486th B.S.	487th B.S.	488th B.S.	489th B.S.
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April 8, 1944 Mission to Orte Railroad Bridge (North)

Squadron War Diary

486th Briefing called for 1005 and target for today was the RR bridge 4 miles NW of Orte across the Tevere River. The 486th furnished 6 ships for the mission. One element of the 486th was 240 feet beyond the center of the bridge. The other element could not correct for drift so held bombs as the lead bombardier of this element, Lt. Staub, saw a small marshalling yard one mile south of the bridge with a train with engine stopped at the loading platform. This element bombed the small M/Yd's striking the platform, cratering the tracks, and hitting the train and probably striking the locomotive. This shows that the boys are using their heads and not wasting their bombs by throwing them away, when they realize that it is impossible to place their bombs effectively.

487th Stand-by all morning until a raid was declared around noon with the target being a railroad bridge two miles south of Attigliano, Italy. Six planes of the 487th were over the intended target at 13:07 hours, but due to the fact that selector switch was not on, the bombs overshot the bridge and landed in the fields approximately 1000 yds. southeast of the target. No enemy opposition was encountered.

488th Mission to R.R. Bridge North of Orvieto (sic). [The author meant Orte.]

489th From 9200 feet and at an indicated air speed of 210 m.p.h., six planes from this squadron unloaded twelve tons of bombs in the vicinity of a R.R. bridge north of Orte. One direct hit demolished the Southwest corner of the bridge.

Target in 1944

Target Today

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Squadron	War Diary
486th	Briefing called for 1005 and target for today was the RR bridge 4 miles NW of Orte across the Tevere River. The 486th furnished 6 ships for the mission. One element of the 486th was 240 feet beyond the center of the bridge. The other element could not correct for drift so held bombs as the lead bombardier of this element, Lt. Staub, saw a small marshalling yard one mile south of the bridge with a train with engine stopped at the loading platform. This element bombed the small M/Yd's striking the platform, cratering the tracks, and hitting the train and probably striking the locomotive. This shows that the boys are using their heads and not wasting their bombs by throwing them away, when they realize that it is impossible to place their bombs effectively.
487th	Stand-by all morning until a raid was declared around noon with the target being a railroad bridge two miles south of Attigliano, Italy. Six planes of the 487th were over the intended target at 13:07 hours, but due to the fact that selector switch was not on, the bombs overshot the bridge and landed in the fields approximately 1000 yds. southeast of the target. No enemy opposition was encountered.
488th	Mission to R.R. Bridge North of Orvieto (sic). [The author meant Orte.]
489th	From 9200 feet and at an indicated air speed of 210 m.p.h., six planes from this squadron unloaded twelve tons of bombs in the vicinity of a R.R. bridge north of Orte. One direct hit demolished the Southwest corner of the bridge.

Crew Lists and Mission Reports

487th Squadron

488th Squadron


489th Squadron

340th BG Squadron Insignia
	486th B.S.	487th B.S.	488th B.S.	489th B.S.
	Click on the squadron insignia above for links to digitized squadron histories