Mission No. Eighteen – October 5, 1944
Aerial View of Ford-Werke Plant with Rhine River, Cologne, 1947
So, I was trying to find a reference to Cologne Motor Transport Works online just to learn more about its history. Interestingly enough, all of my searches kept coming back to Ford-Werke in Cologne. From what I understand, US auto manufacturer Ford had expanded into Germany by the mid-1900’s. In 1939, the name was changed to Ford-Werke and by 1940 it was seized by the Nazi government. As the war dragged on, forced labor was used at this plant. Photo Credit: Originally pulled from media.ford.com but original URL no longer exists.
Target: Cologne – Motor Transport Works
Bomb Load: 12-500# RDX
Gas Load: 2400 gallons
Briefing: 00430
Plane: C7595 – Linda
Position: #2, #4 Element, Lead Sqdn., 41st “A” Gp.
T.O.: 0710 Land: 1366 Time: 6 hours, 56 minutes
Left Base: 0841 @ 10000′
Bombs Away: 1129; 27800′; -38 degrees C.
Distance: 947 SM
Remarks: Bombed by instrument. GEE H. Intense but not too accurate flak. Light damage to plane. No enemy fighters. Second Oak Leaf Cluster.
[Note: This was the 379th Bomb Group’s 215th mission.]
James E. Rung, B-17 Navigator 