Up at 0430 for briefing at 0530. The primary target was an airfield
just south of Hamburg. It was a snafu mission all around - we were
#8 in Green #3 and the squadron lead was very erratic on airspeed.
Had to pull 42" and 2500 rpm at times on the climb and had a lot of
trouble trying to keep #2 engine cool. Green #1 leader dropped accidentally way short of the target and the whole squadron dropped in some field. Green #2 bombed the primary OK. Green #1 had 3 or 4 bombs left so they headed for the secondary followed by Green #3.
Somehow Green #3 got screwed up and kicked out every bomb about 2 miles short and while in a turn. Our squadron was carrying 12/500# aim-able clusters of incendiaries (M-17).