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FRIDAY, 12 MAY 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 353: 886 bombers
and 735
fighters are dispatched to hit oil production facilities in Germany
and
Czechoslovakia; there is strong Luftwaffe fighter reaction and 46
bombers and
7 fighters are lost:
1. 326 B-17s are dispatched to Mersenburg (224 bomb) and Lutzkendorf
(87
bomb); 1 hits Hedrongen and 1 bombs Bullstadt; 2 B-17s are lost, 3
damaged
beyond repair and 189 damaged; 4 airmen are KIA, 6 WIA and 20 MIA.
2. 295 B-17s are dispatched to Brux, Czechoslovakia (140 bomb) and
Zwickau
(74 bomb); 11 hit Chemnitz, 14 hit Gera marshalling yard, 15 hit Hof
and 4
hit targets of opportunity; 41 B-17s are lost, 1 is damaged beyond
repair and
162 damaged; 3 airmen are KIA, 8 WIA and 377 MIA.
3. 265 B-24s are dispatched to Zeitz (116 bomb) and Bohlen (99
bomb); 14
hit Mersenburg, 1 hits Ostend Airfield, Belgium and 12 hit targets
of
opportunity; 3 B-24s are lost, 5 damaged beyond repair and 61
damaged; 7
airmen are WIA and 33 MIA.
Escort is provided by 153 P-38s, 201 P-47s and 381 P-51s; P-38s
claim 2-0-0
Luftwaffe aircraft, P-47s claim 26-0-8 and P-51s claim 33-0-3 in the
air and
5-0-2 on the ground; 4 P-47s and 3 P-51s are lost and 4 P-47s and 9
P-51s are
damaged; 7 pilots are MIA.
Mission 354: 5 of 5 B-17s drop 1.74 million leaflets on Denmark; 1
aircraft
is damaged; 2 airmen are KIA and 3 WIA.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): IX Troop Carrier Command
carries out
Operation EAGLE, a full-scale exercise of the tactics and techniques
of
paradrop, glider tow, parapack in resupply, air landing of supplies
and
medical evacuation as a dress rehearsal for the airborne invasion of
Normandy.
450+ B-26s attack coastal defenses, airfields, bridges, railroads
and
railroad guns, and V-weapon sites in France and Belgium; thick haze
impedes
visibility and causes many aborts.
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