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WEDNESDAY, 9 AUGUST 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 533: 824 bombers
and 675
fighters are dispatched to strategic targets (aircraft and tank
factories,
airfields and fuel depots) in SE Germany; weather deteriorated
enroute and
many bombers were recalled when confronted with a front rising to
28,000-feet
(8,534 m) and most units attacked targets of opportunity; only 25
bombers hit
their primary (Sindelfingen); 18 bombers and 3 fighters are lost;
targets
were (numbers in parenthesis indicate number of bombers bombing):
1. Of 359 B-17s, 103 hit Pirmasens; 56 hit Elsenborn, 41 hit
Karlsruhe, 30
hit Ulm, 8 hit Spreicher and marshalling yards at Saarbrucken (34)
and
Luxembourg (29); they claim 1-1-1 Luftwaffe aircraft; 11 B-17s are
lost, 1 is
damaged beyond repair and 157 damaged; 1 airman is KIA, 5 WIA and 96
MIA.
Escort is provided by 243 P-47s and P-52s; they claim 33-0-10
aircraft in the
air and 24-0-15 on the ground; 1 P-47 and 1 P-51 are lost (pilots
are MIA); 2
P-47s and 5 P-51s are damaged beyond repair.
2. Of 218 B-17s, 16 hit Aacen, 12 hit Eindhoven, 12 hit St Vith
marshalling
yard and 7 hit targets of opportunity; 3 B-17s are lost, 1 is
damaged beyond
repair and 94 are damaged; 5 airman are WIA and 18 MIA. Escort is
provided by
162 P-47s and P-51s without loss.
3. Of 247 B-24s, 147 hit Saarbrucken marshalling yard and 25 hit an
aircraft engine plant at Sindelfingen; 4 B-24s are lost, 2 are
damaged beyond
repair and 126 damaged; 1 airman is KIA, 10 WIA and 39 MIA. Escort
is
provided by 165 P-38s, P-47s and P-51s; they claim 6-0-4 aircraft; 1
P-38 is
lost (pilot is MIA).
Mission 535: 3 of 4 B-17s fly a Micro H test mission against Aubigny,
France airstrip. Escort is provided by 16 P-38s without loss.
Mission 536: 6 of 6 B-17s drop leaflets in France and the
Netherlands
during the night.
116 P-47s, escorted by 40 P-51s, are dispatched on fighter-bomber
missions
against communications in France without loss.
In England, HQ 325th Photographic Wing (Reconnaissance) is activated
at
High Wycombe; and HQ 25th Bombardment Group (Reconnaissance) and
652d
Bombardment Squadron (Heavy, Weather Reconnaissance) with B-24s, the
653d
Bombardment Squadron (Light, Weather Reconnaissance) with B-24s and
Mosquito
XVIs and 654th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy, Reconnaissance, Special)
with
B-24s, B-26s and Mosquito XVIs are activated at Watton.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In France, close to 400 B-26s
and
A-20s attack an ammunition dump in Foret de Blois, shipping at
Brest, and
other targets, including rail bridges at 10 locations in N and W
France;
fighters escort IX Bomber Command aircraft, cover ground forces, and
fly
armed reconnaissance in the wide areas of N France (around Paris, as
far S as
Orleans, and as far NE as Reims and Chalons-sur-Marne).
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