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FRIDAY, 19 MAY 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 358: 888 bombers
and 700
fighters are dispatched to hit targets in Germany; very heavy cloud
cover
forces the bombers to use H2X PFF methods; Luftwaffe resistance is
heavy and
28 bombers and 19 fighters are lost; the fighters claim 77-0-33
Luftwaffe
aircraft:
1. 588 B-17s are dispatched to Berlin; 495 hit the primary, 49 hit
the port
area at Kiel and 1 hits a target of opportunity; 16 B-17s are lost,
2 damaged
beyond repair and 289 damaged; 3 airmen are KIA, 16 WIA and 137 MIA.
2. 300 B-24s are dispatched to the industrial area at Brunswick; 272
hit
the primary and 1 bombs a target of opportunity; 12 B-24s are lost
and 64
damaged; 1 airman is KIA, 8 WIA and 119 MIA.
Escort is provided by 155 P-38s, 182 P-47s and 363 P-51s of the
Eighth Air
Force and 264 Ninth Air Force aircraft; the P-38s claim 0-0-2
Luftwaffe
aircraft in the air and 1-0-0 on the ground, the P-47s claim 29-0-16
in the
air and 2-0-0 on the ground and the P-51s claim 41-0-5 in the air
and 4-0-10
on the ground; 4 P-38s, 4 P-47s and 11 P-51s are lost; 2 P-38s are
damaged
beyond repair; 5 P-38s, 4 P-47s and 7 P-51s are damaged; 17 pilots
are MIA.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In France, about 290 B-26s
and A-20s
bomb coastal defenses, port area, railway battery, and NOBALL
(V-weapon)
targets; 125+ others fail to bomb because of extremely thick haze;
about 300
P-47s dive-bomb targets.
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