At the center of the monuments.

Memorial comprises a central monument flanked by listings of 118 U.S. and 18 German aircrew members who died during German interception of a mission by the 445^th Bombardment Group (Heavy) over central Germany on 27 September 1944. Listing includes 117 aircrew members from 445th Bombardment Group (Heavy) and one pilot from 376th Squadron, 361^st Fighter Group, who died in the greatest single-day loss suffered by any US Army Air Forces (USAAF) Group in history. Two flagpoles stand behind the central monument.

On 27 September 1944, 35 B-24 bombers with 338 aircrew members took off from RAF Tibenham in Norfolk, within an 8th Air Force mission including a total of 283 B-24s of the 2nd Combat Bombardment Wing and, as escorts, 198 P-51 Mustang fighters. Their specific target that day was infrastructure associated with Henschel & Sohn production facilitiesm which built Tiger and Panther tanks near Kassel, Germany.

In clouds, the navigator of the lead bomber of the 445th Bombardment Group miscalculated, and the 35 planes of the Group left the bomber stream of the 2d Air Division and proceeded to Göttingen, about 56 kilometers from their primary target. After the bomb run, the Group was alone in the skies and was attacked from the rear by an estimated 150 Luftwaffe aircraft, resulting in one of the most concentrated air battles in history. The U.S. 361st Fighter Group arrived late to prevent complete destruction of the group. 29 German and 25 American planes went down in a 24-kilometer radius within 5 minutes.

During the mission, 118 U.S. airmen lost their lives, including 11 who were killed on the ground after parachuting safely -- and a further 121 men were taken prisoner. Only four of the 445th Groups planes made it back to the base, while two crashed in France, one in Belgium, and another at RAF Old Buckenham. Two made forced landings at RAF Manston. Only one of the 35 attacking aircraft was fit to fly the next day.

Immediately after the mission, the Division planned to transfer crews from other Groups to replace losses, and on the following day, the Group sent a formation of 10 aircraft to attack Kassel again. All of those aircraft returned safely. Also in the days after the battle, USAAF aircraft dropped leaflets over the suspected crash sites in an attempt to protect crews that had parachuted to safety from being killed on the ground.

U.S. and German donations supported the construction of this memorial. The German War Graves Commission (Volksbundes Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e.V.) dedicated the memorial on 1 August 1990, in a ceremony attended by U.S. and German officials, 23 former U.S. airmen and four German pilots who survived the original mission, and family members of fallen aircrew.

Source of information: www.americanairmuseum.com/archive/unit/445th-bomb-group, www.gemeinde-ludwigsau.de/fliegergedenkstaette, www.kasselmission.org, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kassel_Mission

In einem der dramatischsten Luftkämpfe des zweiten Weltkrieges

am 27. September 1944 im hessisch/thüringischen Luftraum

stürzten 30 amerikanische Bomber, ein Jäger und 29 deutsche

Jäger ab. 118 amerikanische und 18 deutsche Flieger starben.

Sieben weitere Tote forderte der Absturz eines deutschen Flugzeuges

auf ein Lazarett.

An dieser Stelle, an der die amerikanische Führungsmaschine mit

dem Gruppenkommandeur Captain Chilton und dem Geschwaderkommodore

Major McCoy zerschellte, sollen die Namen der toten

Flieger beider Nationen für Immer zum Gedenken verzeichnet sein.

Ihr Schicksal soll die Lebenden mahnen, dem Frieden und der

Freuncschaft unter den Menschen und den Völkern zu dienen.

* * * * *

In one of the most dramatic aerial battles of World War II, In the

Hessian/Thuringian airspace, on 27 September 1944, 30 American

Bombers, one fighter and 29 German fighters crashed. 118 American

and 18 German airmen met their death. The crash of a German aircraft

upon a field hospital claimed seven further fatalities.

Here, where the American lead bomber with Group Leader,

Captain Chilton, and the Wing Commander, Major McCoy, crashed,

the names of the dead airmen of both nations shall be recorded,

in constant memory. May their fate remind the living to contribute

to everlasting peace and friendship between the people and nations.