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This story was supplied by Ken Nellis. His father flew from Old Buckenham.
On Febuary 9, 1945 the 453rd BG carried out their 213th mission. An oil plant at Rothensee was the primary, but that was clouded over , so they bombed the secondary, the railroad marshalling yards at Magdeburg. No fighters reported and the flak was "light." Thirty four of thirty five planes returned to Old Buck, the remaining plane having had to ditch in the channel. In the midst of the process of landing there was a terrible mix-up and two planes attempted to land at the same time. They collided in full view of all the horrified ground personnel, the lower plane having its vertical stabilizer torn away. Control was impossible, and it slammed into the ground short of the runway, killing the all eleven crewmen. The other plane, though damaged, landed safely. As if that weren't tragic enough, the mission they had just completed was their thirty fifth and last. They would have been rotated home. Later it was learned that the 732nd crew had ditched in the North Sea, not the Channel, and that three men had drowned when their B-24 sank like a rock. So, the 453rd "lost 14 good men on a day when they encountered no fighters and little flak."
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