Eighth Army Air Force 445th

445th Bomb Squadrons

1945 Modern day

B24H Piloted by 1LT Paul Swofford on the Kassel Mission (Returned to Tibenham)

Inside Tibenham Church - Norfolk, UK

Kassel Mission Memorial: Located at the crash site of the lead B24

Jimmy Stewart, C.O. 703rd, September 1943 to March 1944.

Welcome to the Kassel Mission Historical Society’s new website. Our new web home was made possible by the family and friends of mission veteran John V. Cadden, (December 30, 1923 – August 16, 2011). The gifts made in John’s memory funded the construction of www.kasselmission.com. Thank you to all who contributed.

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27 September 1944, above the Werra Valley near Eisenach, Germany: As the result of a six minute aerial battle, thirty five 445th Bomb Group B-24 Liberators and three hundred thirty six men who make up their crews, suffer the greatest losses to a single group in a single day in aviation warfare history. Twenty five of the heavy bombers are downed inside of Germany’s borders. Three crash land; two in France and one in Belgium. Two make forced landings at an emergency field in England, and another crashes at Old Buckenham, leaving only four to return to base in Tibenham. One hundred seventeen airmen of the Mighty Eighth’s 445th are killed in action, one hundred twenty one are taken prisoner, and only ninety eight are returned to duty.

What follows is their story.