|
SUNDAY, 16 JULY 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 476: 1,087 bombers
and 712
fighters are dispatched to hit targets in Germany; 11 bombers and 3
fighters
are lost:
1. Of 407 B-17s, 213 hit an aircraft engine plant at Munich, 54 hit
Augsburg, 52 hit Stuttgart and 50 hit 2 targets of opportunity; they
claim
2-3-2 Luftwaffe aircraft; 10 B-17s are lost, 2 damaged beyond repair
and 112
damaged; 2 airmen are KIA, 7 WIA and 81 MIA. Escort is provided by
240 P-38s,
P-47s and P-51s; 1 P-51 is lost (pilot is MIA).
2. Of 238 B-17s, 206 hit Stuttgart and 2 hit a target of
opportunity; 1
B-17 is lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 45 damaged; 1 airman is
WIA and 10
MIA. Escort is provided by 214 P-38s, P-47s and P-51s; 1 P-51 is
lost (pilot
is MIA).
3. 407 of 442 B-24s hit the marshalling yards at Saarbrucken; 2
B-24s are
damaged beyond repair and 45 damaged; 1 airman is KIA and 3 WIA.
Escort is
provided by 169 P-38s and P-47s; 1 P-38 is lost and 1 damaged beyond
repair.
Mission 477: 5 of 5 B-17s drop leaflets in France during the night.
24 B-24s fly CARPETBAGGER missions during the night.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): Major General Paul L
Williams,
Commanding General IX Troop Carrier Command, arrives in Italy from
the UK,
and activates the Provisional Troop Carrier Division which will take
part in
the invasion of S France.
In France, about 375 B-26s and A-20s, during morning and evening
operations, bomb strongpoints in the Saint-Lo area, bridges in the
frontline
area, and bridges and a fuel dump SE of Rennes; and fighters escort
the
bombers and fly armed reconnaissance over the frontlines in the
Chateaudun-
Orleans-Tours areas. In England, a detachment of the 422d Night
Fighter
Squadron, 71st Fighter Wing, based at Scorton, begins operating from
Ford
with P-61s.
|
