19 April 1945

Avisio Viaduct and Railroad Diversion, Italy

The Avisio Viaduct, located approximately six miles north of Verona, is one of the vital links in the Bronner railway line. It was frequently visited by Groups of the Fifteenth Air Force and made inoperative on several occasions. Notwithstanding this, the enemy by the ingenious use of pre-fabricated spans was able to remedy the damage and continued to funnel traffic through the Bronner Pass at night. To make interdiction of all railway lines feeding into the Bronner absolute and complete, the Air Force assigned several Groups to destroy the Avision Viaduct. The 461st Group participated in this operation.

The field order called for a maximum effort of thirty six aircraft; the Group supplied thirty nine aircraft. Major Thackston led the Group formation. Haze partly obscured the target but good bombing results were obtained. The patter fell across the Viaduct and continued to a point one thousand feet west of the aiming point. Air Force scored the mission at 40.3 per cent. Flak was moderate at the target but not very accurate for not a single plane sustained damage. The Luftwaffe was out in force. Both FW-190s and Me109s were soon in comparatively large numbers in the vicinity of Lake Garda. Enemy fighters, however, did not engage the Group formation.