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FRIDAY, 28 APRIL 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): MORNING OPERATIONS:
Mission
325:
223 bombers are dispatched:
1. 116 of 117 B-17s hit Avord Airfield, France; 2 B-17s are lost and
38
damaged; 20 airmen are MIA. Escort is provided by 118 P-47s and 87
P-51s;
they claim 0-0-2 Luftwaffe aircraft in the air and 8-0-3 on the
ground; 2
P-51s are lost and 2 damaged; 2 pilots are MIA.
2. 18 of 106 B-17s bomb the Sottevast, France V-weapon site and
targets
of opportunity; clouds prevent most B-17s from bombing; 2 B-17s are
lost and
47 damaged; 3 airmen are WIA and 21 MIA. Escort is provided by 46
P-47s
without loss.
2 fighter-bomber missions are also flown against airfields in
France:
1. 34 P-38s using the Droopsnoot method, bomb Tours Airfield; 11
P-38s
fly escort; 1 P-38 is lost and 1 damaged; 1 pilot is MIA.
2. 49 P-38s using the Droopsnoot method, bomb Chateaudun Airfield
while 3
P-38s fly escort; 1 P-38 is damaged; 32 P-47s, with 4 P-47 escorts,
dive-bomb
the same target; they claim 1-0-1 aircraft on the ground.
AFTERNOON OPERATIONS: Mission 325: 47 of 47 B-24s bomb the Marquise/
Mimoyecques, France V-weapon sites; 1 B-24 is damaged beyond repair
and 6
damaged; 9 airmen are WIA. Escort is provided by 50 P-47s without
loss.
16 P-47s, with 8 escorts, dive bomb an unidentified airfield near
Paris
without loss.
NIGHT OPERATIONS: Mission 326: 5 of 5 B-17s drop 1.64 million
leaflets on
17 towns in Belgium, France and The Netherlands including Antwerp,
Brussels,
Paris, Tours, Lorient, Nantes, Orleans, Zwolle, Leeuwarden, Turnhout
and
Amersfoort without loss.
21 B-24s are dispatched on CARPETBAGGER missions without loss.
848th and 851st Bombardment Squadrons (Heavy), 490th Bombardment
Group
(Heavy), arrive at Eye, England from the US with B-24s; first
mission is 4
Jun and 31 May respectively.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): 18 B-26s bomb the airfield at
Cormeilles-en-Vexin, France as a secondary target. Nearly 250 B-26s
dispatched to bomb marshalling yards are recalled because of heavy
cloud
cover over the targets.
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