SATURDAY, 17 APRIL 1943
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force)
VIII Bomber Command Mission Number 52:
115 B-17's are dispatched against
the Focke-Wulf factory at Bremen, Germany the Eighth Air Force's
largest
mission to date. A mass of fighters attacks during bomb run,
shooting down
15 while flak claims another. We claim 63-15-17 Luftwaffe aircraft;
39
B-17's are damaged; casualties are 2 KIA, 4 WIA and 159 MIA.
The Commanding General, VIII Fighter Command, expresses the need for
20
fighter groups to neutralize growing German fighter opposition to
the
Combined Bomber Offensive (CBO).
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