Captain Alan A. Arlin's Diary - September 13, 1944

398th Bomb Group
Memorial
Association

Captain Alan A. Arlin's Diary

Arlin Mission No. 18

**September 13, 1944**
**Target:** **Synthetic Oil Plant, Lutzkendorf, Germany**
Mission No. 18 Date – September 13, 1944 Assigned Target – Synthetic Oil Plant, Lutzkendorf, Germany Target Attacked – As briefed Results – Good Aircraft Number – N-7889-B Bomb Load – 10 500 lb. General Purpose; 2 smoke bombs Position in Formation – Lead of Low Group Time – 8 hrs. Altitude over Target – 28,000' Casualties – None Damage – Minor flak damage Losses – None Loading List C.A. – Capt. Schofield, Frank C. Pilot – Capt. Arlin, A. A. Bomb. – 1st Lt. Baxter, M.V. Nav. – 2nd Lt. Brass, Ernest H. Eng. – T/Sgt. Chmielewski, R. J. Radio – T/Sgt. Ruff, C. F. Waist – S/Sgt. Wilson, W. C. Ball – S/Sgt. Carter, C. M. Tail – S/Sgt. Hoffman, A. W. Mission No. 18 Date – September 13, 1944 The take off and assembly went as briefed this morning. After making the Division formation and starting our climb across the Channel, it began to get a little rough. The weather turned [bad] with many layer[s] [of] clouds and heavy contrails. Col. Hunter was in the wing lead ship, and it was a wild goose chase trying to keep up with him. Half of the time, it was impossible to see the rest of the formation because of clouds or contrails. With a lot of hard work and abuse of our engines, we kept the formation together and made the I.P. Our bomb run was O.K. The target was covered with smoke and dust from previous bomb strikes, but Bax was able to tell where it should be, and put our bombs in there. Our strike photos showed that it was a good job of bombing. The flak in here was from moderate to intense, but through evasive action and a short bomb run we got in and out without much damage to the formation and didn’t lose any ships. The flak was exceptionally heavy off on our right on the way in to the target, but Bax made the run in such a manner that we just swung into it for a very short time and then got right out of there. The trip back was another sightseeing job. We had to come back at very low altitude due to the weather. We came across the Seigfried Line and across Belgium at 6,000'. We picked up a few bursts of flak at this low altitude in Germany, but no one was hurt by it. At no time during the mission did we see any enemy fighters. The mission was a good one in spite of the bad weather while going in.

Notes:

First Lieutenant Alan A. Arlin of the 601st Squadron was the pilot of Rapid City original crew No. 31. On many of his missions, 1st Lieutenant and later Captain Alan A. Arlin was a lead pilot for his squadron or for the group.
The above transcription was provided by David L. Clark.
This transcription is a careful reproduction of the original except for occasional spelling and punctuation changes. In some circumstances, based on relevancy, some material may not have been transcribed.
Clarification of acronyms or special words or guesses of certain words are shown in brackets [ ].

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