|
SUNDAY, 5 DECEMBER 1943
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): VIII Bomber Command
Mission 149.
Airfields in France are targetted; 8 B-17's and 1 B-24 are lost.
1. 216 B-17's are dispatched to La Rochelle/Laleu, St Jean D'Angely,
Paris/Ivry, Paris/Bois and D'Colombes airfields; none hit the target
due to
weather; 1 B-17 is damaged beyond repair and 1 damaged.
2. 96 B-24's are dispatched to Cognac/Chateaubernard Airfield; 2 hit
St
Nazaire; 1 B-24 is lost and 7 damaged; casualties are 2 WIA and 10
MIA.
3. 236 B-17's are dispatched to the Bordeaux/Merignac air depot; 1
hits
the target; they claim 12-5-5 Luftwaffe aircraft; 8 B-17's are lost
and 19
damaged; casualties are 1 KIA, 4 WIA and 50 MIA.
These missions are escorted by 34 P-38's and 266 P-47's plus 36
Ninth Air
Force P-51's; 1 P-47 is lost; the pilot is MIA.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): 52 B-26's bomb Ligescourt,
Campagne-
les-Hesdin, and Saint-Josse, France. 200 others are forced to
abandon the
mission because of heavy cloud cover over the targets, including
V-weapon sites
which the Ninth had scheduled to attack for the first time. Ninth
Air Force
P-51's from the 354th Fighter Group fly their first escort mission,
accompanying Eighth Air Force heavy bombers in a raid against
targets in
the area near Amiens, France.
|
