|
SUNDAY, 21 MAY 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 360: 150 bombers
and 48
fighters hit V-weapon sites in France without loss; 25 of 40 B-17s
hit
Marquise/Mimoyecques and 13 B-17s are damaged; 99 of 110 B-24s hit
Siracourt
and 1 B-24 is damaged. Escort is provided by 48 P-47s without loss.
617 fighters are dispatched on strafing missions to attack rail
stock in
Germany; 27 fighters are lost; 91 of 225 locomotives attacked are
destroyed;
P-47s also dive bomb rail bridges in W Germany; and 1 P-51 pilot
claims 25
cows killed; participating are:
1. 145 P-38s claim 2-0-0 Luftwaffe aircraft in the air and 6-0-3 on
the
ground; 8 P-38s are lost, 2 damaged beyond repair and 12 damaged; 1
airman is
KIA and 8 MIA.
2. 139 P-47s claim 1-0-0 Luftwaffe aircraft in the air; 4 P-47s are
lost
and 21 damaged; 3 pilots are MIA.
3. 333 P-51s claim 17-0-2 Luftwaffe aircraft in the air and 77-0-64
on the
ground; 15 P-51s are lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 20 damaged;
15 pilots
are MIA.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In France 50 B-26s bomb
airfields at
Abbeville/Drucat; and 600+ P-47s and P-51s attack railroad rolling
stock.
404th Fighter Squadron, 371st Fighter Group, based at Bisterne,
England,
begins operating from Ibsley with P-47s.
|
