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WEDNESDAY, 5 APRIL 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 288: 21 of 50 B-24s
dispatched hit V-weapon sites at St Pol/Siracourt, France without
loss; heavy
clouds and the failure of blind-bombing equipment cause other B-24s
to return
to base without bombing. 50 P-47s escort the B-24s without loss.
Mission 289: 96 P-38s, 236 P-47s and 124 P-51s are dispatched to
attack
airfields in Germany; heavy cloud hinders most groups: 1 P-38s is
lost and 4
damaged, 1 pilot is MIA; P-47s claim 2-0-2 Luftwaffe aircraft, 1
P-47 is lost
and 4 damaged, 1 pilot is MIA; P-51s claim 96-4-120 aircraft, 7
P-51s are
lost and 3 damaged, casualties are 1 KIA and 6 MIA.
During the night of 5/6 Apr, 801st Bombardment Group (Provisional)
dispatches 17 B-24s on CARPETBAGGER (air operations to drop supplies
to
guerillas in Europe) missions; 1 B-24 is lost.
Units arriving in England from the US: HQ 487th Bombardment Group
(Heavy)
at Lavenham; 503d, 504th and 505th Fighter-Bomber Squadrons, 339th
Fighter-
Bomber Group at Fowlmere with P-51s (first mission is 30 Apr); and
832d,
833d, 834th and 835th Bombardment Squadrons (Heavy), 486th
Bombardment Group
(Heavy), with B-24s (first mission is 7 May).
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): Units arriving in England
from the
US: HQ 36th Fighter Group and 22d Fighter Squadron at Kingsnorth
with P-47s
(first mission is 8 May); HQ 50th Fighter Group and 10th, 81st and
313th
Fighter Squadrons at Lymington with P-47s (first mission is 1 May);
HQ 367th
Fighter Group and 392d Fighter Squadron at Stony Cross with P-38s
(first
mission is 9 May); HQ 397th Bombardment Group (Medium) and 596th,
597th,
598th and 599th Bombardment Squadrons (Medium) at Gosfield with
B-26s (first
mission is 20 Apr); 411th and 412th Fighter Squadrons, 373d Fighter
Group at
Woodchurch with P-47s (first mission is 8 May); 506th, 507th and
508th
Fighter-Bomber Squadrons, 404th Fighter-Bomber Group, at Winkton
with P-47s
(first mission is 1 May); and 513th Fighter-Bomber Squadron, 406th
Fighter-
Bomber Group, at Ashford with P-47s (first mission is 9 May).
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