Two hours and forty-five minutes later, the Pink Lady and her crew, piloted by Frank H. Wilcox, would takeoff from Polebrok, along with the 511th, and head towards London, escorted by 137 P-51 mustangs (2).

At the capital city of England, she followed the Group Lead, Major Geiger, who then turned Southeast towards the English Channel and the French city of Calais, before proceeding along the following course:

tufurst1945.jpg

When Furstenfeldbruck airfield was reached, the Pink Lady released her bomb load, following the cue of the Lead Bombardier, Lt. Hall. It was a beautiful, clear day, and visibility was unlimited for the 139 B-17s participating in the visual bombing mission, which in part aided the group in scoring a direct hit, as bomb photos would later proove.

Dispite the extremely heavy flack, the Pink Lady was able to return successfully with the 511th, passing over the major German cities of Augsburg, Stuttgart, Karlsrhue, and Mannheim, before flying alongthe French boarder towards home. The return flight path of the 9-hour long mission was as follows:

fromfurst1945.jpg

Fortunately there were no Allied fatalities during that mission. Nonetheless, two B-17s were damaged beyond repair and 12 recieved minor damage. One airman was wounded. (2).

The Furstenfeldbruck airfield would eventually be rebuilt, and continues to operate today:

furstenfeldbruck2006.jpg