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SUNDAY, 11 JUNE 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 405: Weather
prevents
operations against priority targets in Germany so the bombers attack
targets
in France; 1,055 bombers and 914 fighter sorties are flown; over 400
bombers
abort or fail to bomb due to clouds and absence or malfunction of
Pathfinders;
3 bombers and 8 fighters are lost:
1. 471 B-17s are dispatched to airfields at Beaumont-le-Roger (38
bomb),
Bernay/St Martin (50 bomb) and Dinard/Pluertuit (37 bomb), and
Toucquet-Paris-
Plage (27 bomb), Merlimont Plage (34 bomb), Pontaubault Bridge (50
bomb) and
Berck (36 bomb); 33 others hit Conches Airfield and 4 hit targets of
opportunity; 2 B-17s are lost, 1 is damaged beyond repair and 11
damaged; 20
airmen are MIA.
2. 584 B-24s are dispatched to airfields at Cormeilles-en-Vexin (34
bomb),
Beauvais/Nivelliers (27 bomb), Beaumont-sur-Oise (36 bomb) and Creil
(19
bomb) and Vicomte-sur-Rance (19 bomb), Montford Bridge (18 bomb) and
Blois/St
Denis (41 bomb); 12 others hit Beauvais/Tille Airfield, 7 hit Poix
Airfield,
32 hit Montauban marshalling yard and 52 hit targets of opportunity;
1 B-24
is lost and 14 damaged; 1 airman is KIA, 3 WIA and 4 MIA.
87 P-47s and 144 P-51s provide escort for the bombers without loss.
Other fighter missions are:
1. 143 P-38s patrol the beachhead and claim 2-0-0 Luftwaffe aircraft
without loss.
2. 77 P-38s, 195 P-47s and 268 P-51s fly fighter-bomber missions
against
communications targets in NW France; the P-38s claim 3-2-5 Luftwaffe
aircraft
in the air and 0-0-1 on the ground; 3 P-38s, 1 P-47 and 4 P-51s are
lost; 7
of the 8 pilots are MIA.
Mission 406: During the night, 5 B-17s drop leaflets on France and
the Low
Countries without loss.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In France, 129 B-26s and
A-20s bomb
rail and road bridges and intersections, rail lines, oil tanks,
artillery and
town areas, in morning operations; bad weather prevents afternoon
operations;
10 fighter groups fly escort and strafe and bomb bridges, railroads,
gun
emplacements, rail and road traffic and marshalling yards in support
of
ground troops.
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