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WEDNESDAY, 19 APRIL 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 308 Part 1: 772
bombers
and 697 fighters are dispatched in 3 forces to bomb Germany; they
claim
17-1-6 Luftwaffe aircraft; 5 bombers and 2 fighters are lost:
1. 271 of 277 B-17s hit the Kassel area, Eschwege Airfield, Limburg
and a
target of opportunity; 5 B-17s are lost and 119 damaged; casualties
are 1
KIA, 5 WIA and 47 MIA.
2. 243 of 246 B-17s hit Lippstadt and Werl Airfields and a target of
opportunity; 21 B-17s are damaged; casualties are 2 KIA, 8 WIA and
55 MIA.
3. 230 of 249 B-24s bomb Paderborn and Gutersloh Airfields, Soest,
Koblenz,
Buren and targets of opportunity; 1 B-24 is damaged beyond repair
and 10 are
damaged; casualties are 1 KIA, 3 WIA and 8 MIA.
Escort is provided by 127 P-38s, 439 Eighth and Ninth Air Force
P-47s and
131 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-51s; they claim 16-1-2 Luftwaffe
aircraft; 2
P-51s are lost and 4 P-47s and 5 P-51s are damaged; 2 pilots are
MIA.
Mission 308 Part 2: 27 of 27 B-24s bomb V-weapon sites at Watten,
France; 1
B-24 is lost; escort is provided by 47 Ninth Air Force P-47s without
loss.
HQ 56th Fighter Group and 61st and 63d Fighter Squadrons move from
Halesworth to Boxted, England with P-47s.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): After several weeks of
instruction,
a IX Air Forces Services Command training exercise (Operation
BOOMERANG) in
waterproofing and landing motor vehicles gets under way. This
exercise, in
preparation for a cross-channel movement lasts several weeks and
involves 55
units, over 650 vehicles, and more than 2,500 men.
350+ B-26s and A-20s bomb marshalling yards, city areas, and targets
of
opportunity at Gunzburg, Ulm, Neu Ulm, Donauworth, and Schelklingen,
Germany;
and fighters fly over 1,200 sorties against a variety of targets in
NW Europe.
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