Mission Reports

Over the time period from January 1944 through April 1945, the 449th Bomb Group flew a total of 254 combat missions against targets located in central and eastern Europe. For each mission flown by the 449th Bomb Group, a Mission Narrative Report was prepared by the Operations Staff. These narrative reports were developed and submitted to 47th Wing Headquarters as soon as possible after completion of the mission and usually on the same day as the mission. The narrative reports thus provide the original assessment of the mission effectiveness. Each narrative report followed a more or less standardized format which summarized the mission under the major headings of Chronology, Route & Assault, Results, Enemy Resistance, Significant Observations, and Conclusions. The excerpts presented herein focus primarily on the chronology and results sections of the original reports. Portions of the reports which have been summarized or significantly altered are set off by brackets of the form […]. The original mission reports are held by the USAF Historical Research Agency, Maxwell AFB, Montgomery, AL. The principal holdings are filed by date under the general accession headings of [GP-449-SU-OP] and [GP-449-SU-OP-S]. The Historical Research Agency is open to the public.

The mission reports are arranged by month. This database lacks the mission reports for the months of January 1945 through March 1945.