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THURSDAY, 29 JUNE 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 447: 1,150 bombers
and 779
fighters are dispatched to hit targets in Germany and the
Netherlands; 15
bombers and 3 fighters are lost; cloud cover causes 400+ aircraft to
abort
the mission:
1. Of 179 B-17s, 81 bomb the synthetic oil plant at Bohlen and 61
strike
an aircraft components factory at Wittenberg; 4 B-17s are lost and
111
damaged; 2 airmen are KIA, 5 WIA and 30 MIA.
2. Of 380 B-17s, 41 hit Leipzig/Heiterblick, 30 hit Leipzig/Taucha
Airfield, 19 hit Leipzig, 18 hit Wittenberg, 15 hit Limbach, 14 hit
Quackenbruck and 2 hit targets of opportunity; 2 B-17s are lost, 1
is damaged
beyond repair and 76 damaged; 2 airmen are WIA and 21 MIA.
3. Of 591 B-24s, 81 hit Magdeburg, 74 hit Oschersleben, 54 hit
Bernburg, 47
hit Aschersleben, 46 hit Burg Airfield, 42 hit an aviation plant at
Fallersleben, 35 hit targets of opportunity, 26 hit Stendal
Airfield, 9 hit
Gardelegen Airfield, 8 hit Oebisfelde/Kaltendorf, 8 hit Zerbst
Airfield, and
4 hit Leopoldshall marshalling yard; 9 B-24s are lost, 3 damaged
beyond
repair and 204 damaged; 2 airmen are KIA, 12 WIA and 92 MIA.
The missions above are escorted by 203 P-38s, 216 P-47 and 352 P-51s
of the
Eighth and Ninth Air Forces; they claim 34-0-9 Luftwaffe aircraft in
the air
and 16-0-8 on the ground; 3 P-51s are lost (pilots are MIA).
4 of 8 P-38s fly a fighter-bomber mission against shipping at
Ijmuiden, the
Netherlands without loss.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In France, almost 200 B-26s
and
A-20s bomb gun batteries on Cap de la Hague, bridges and rail lines
in the
Rennes-Saint-Hilaire-du-Harcourt-Vitre areas, and rail bridge at
Oissel;
fighters fly armed reconnaissance and attack enemy aircraft, road
and rail
traffic, gun positions, bridges and other targets in wide areas
throughout
NW France; and 509th and 511th Fighter Squadrons, 405th Fighter
Group, move
from Christchurch, England to Picauville with P-47s. In England, the
14th
Liaison Squadron, XIX Tactical Air Command, moves from Knutsford to
Ibsley
with L-5s.
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