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MONDAY, 24 APRIL 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 315: 754 bombers
and 867
fighters are dispatched to bomb airfields, aircraft production
industries and
targets of opportunity in Germany; the bomber claim 20-1-36
Luftwaffe
aircraft and the fighters claim 124-6-58 fighters; 40 bombers and 17
fighters
are lost; details are:
1. Of 281 B-17s dispatched, 109 hit Erding Air Depot, 84 hit
aviation
industry targets at Oberpfaffenhofen, 57 hit Lansberg Airfield and
18 hit
targets of opportunity; 27 B-17s are lost and 112 damaged;
casualties are 4
KIA, 22 WIA and 260 MIA.
2. 243 B-17s are dispatched to bomb aviation industry targets at
Friedrichshafen/Lowenthal (98 bomb) and Friedrichshafen/Manzell (58
bomb),
industrial areas at Friedrichshafen/Manzell (58 bomb) and Neckarsulm
(15
bomb); 3 also hit targets of opportunity; 9 B-17s are lost and 119
damaged;
casualties are 7 KIA, 4 WIA and 71 MIA.
3. 230 B-24s are dispatched to bomb airfields; 120 hit Gablingen
Airfield,
98 hit Leipheim Airfield and 1 hits a target of opportunity; 4 B-24s
are lost
and 26 damaged; casualties are 1 WIA and 40 MIA.
Escort is provided by 131 P-38s, 490 Eighth and Ninth Air Force
P-47s and
246 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-51s: P-38s claim 4-1-0 Luftwaffe
aircraft, 1
P-38 is damaged beyond repair and 7 damaged; P-47s claim 2-1-0
aircraft in
the air and 36-0-16 on the ground, 5 P-47s are lost and 15 damaged,
5 pilots
are MIA; P-51s claim 64-4-2 aircraft in the air and 21-0-20 on the
ground, 12
P-51s are lost and 8 damaged; 12 pilots are MIA.
Mission 316: 5 of 5 B-17s drop 1.12 million leaflets on Amsterdam,
Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht, The Netherlands and Lille and
Reims, France
at 2322-2344 hours without loss.
8 B-24s are dispatched on CARPETBAGGER operations.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): 38 B-26s dispatched against
targets
in France are recalled because of bad weather. 32 P-47s dive-bomb
the
Louvain, Belgium marshalling yard with good results.
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