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TUESDAY, 4 JULY 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 451: 558 bombers
and 632
fighters are dispatched to attack 7 airfields N and W of Paris; bad
weather
and mechanical failures cause 350+ bombers to abort; 1 B-17 and 4
fighters
are lost:
1. Of 300 B-17s, 24 hit Dreux Airfield, 24 hit Illiers L'Eveque
Airfield,
13 hit Conches Airfield and 1 hits a target of opportunity; 1 B-17s
is
lost, 2 damaged beyond repair and 37 damaged; 1 airman is WIA and 9
MIA.
2. Of 258 B-24s, 56 hit Conches Airfield, 50 hit Beaumont le Roger
Airfield, 49 hit Evreux Airfield, 25 hit Beaumont-sur-Oise Airfield
and 12
hit Creil Airfield; 2 B-24s are damaged beyond repair and 52
damaged; 2
airmen are WIA.
199 P-38s, 189 P-47s and 244 P-51s are dispatched to escort the
bombers
but 63 abort; 2 P-38s, 1 P-47 and 1 P-51 are lost and 1 P-47 is
damaged.
Of 144 P-38s and 176 P-47s, 29 hit Nevers marshalling yard, 25 hit
Joinville Bridge, 16 hit Chartre-Chateaudun marshalling yard, 14 hit
Perrigny marshalling yard, 14 hit Fresnes Bridge, 8 hit Cercy/La
Tours
marshalling yard, 8 hit Cambrai marshalling yard, 6 hit St Florentin,
5 hit
targets of opportunity and 4 hit Rouen Bridge; they claim 17-0-10
Luftwaffe
aircraft in the air and 1-0-0 on the ground; 1 P-38 is lost and 1
damaged.
Total VIII Fighter Command casualties are 1 KIA, 4 WIA and 7 MIA.
36 B-24s fly CARPETBAGGER missions during the night; 3 airmen are
MIA
after a plane crashes.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In France bad weather
curtails bomber
operations, but 95 B-26s and A-20s bomb a rail bridge at Oissel and
strongly
defended positions N of Anneville-sur-Mer, using the Pathfinder
technique;
900+ fighters strafe and bomb numerous targets including troop
concentrations, gun positions, rail lines, marshalling yards, a
tunnel, a
radio station, bridges, highways, and a command post; fighters also
fly
escort and cover the beach and assault areas; units moving from
England to
France: 109th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, 67th Tactical
Reconnaissance
Group, from Middle Wallop to Le Molay with F-6s; 366th and 367th
Fighter
Squadrons, 358th Fighter Group, from High Halden to Cretteville with
P-47s;
381st Fighter Squadron, 363d Fighter Group, from Staplehurst to
Maupertus
with P-51s; and 494th Fighter Squadron, 48th Fighter Group, from
Ibsley to
Deux Jumeaux with P-47s.
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