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SATURDAY, 27 MAY 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 373: 1,126 bombers
and 710
fighters are dispatched against rail targets in France and Germany
and gun
batteries in France; 24 bombers and 7 fighters are lost; the
fighters claim
35.5-1-5 aircraft in the air and 9-0-2 on the ground:
1. 344 B-17s are dispatched to marshalling yards at Ludwigshafen
(150 bomb)
and Mannheim (125 bomb); 18 hit Lachen/Apeyerdorf, 19 hit the
Mannheim area
and 6 hit targets of opportunity; 12 B-17s are lost and 98 damaged;
2 airmen
are KIA, 5 WIA and 114 MIA.
2. 269 B-17s are dispatched to marshalling yards at Karlsruhe (98
bomb) and
Strasbourg, France (49 bomb) and aviation factory at Strasbourg/Meinau,
France (53 bomb); 7 B-17s are lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 89
damaged; 1
airman is KIA, 3 WIA and 70 MIA.
3. 69 of 86 B-24s bomb aviation factory at Woippy, France; 3 others
hit
targets of opportunity; 1 airman is WIA.
4. 369 B-24s are dispatched to marshalling yards at Saarbrucken (145
bomb),
Neunkirchen (66 bomb) and Kons/Karthus (72 bomb); 3 others hit
targets of
opportunity; 5 B-24s are lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 18
damaged; 3
airmen are KIA, 4 WIA and 50 MIA.
5. 36 of 40 B-17s bomb Fecamp gun battery, France without loss.
6. 18 of 18 B-24s bomb St Valery, France without loss.
Escort is provided by 170 P-38s, 238 P-47s and 302 P-51s; 1 P-38 is
lost
(pilot is MIA) and 1 damaged beyond repair; P-47s claim 1-0-1
Luftwaffe
aircraft in the air and 2-0-0 on the ground without loss; P-51s
claim
34.5-1-4 aircraft in the air and 7-0-2 on the ground with the loss
of 6
P-51s (pilots are MIA), another is damaged beyond repair and 8
damaged. 425
Ninth Air Force aircraft also support the mission; they claim 4-0-0
with the
lost of 1.
Mission 374: 24 of 24 P-47s hit a barge convoy between Willenstadt
and
Meerije, The Netherlands; 1 P-47 is damaged and 2 barges destroyed.
Mission 375: 3 of 4 B-17s drop leaflets in Belgium and France
without loss.
788th and 850th Bombardment Squadrons (Heavy), VIII Air Force
Composite
Command attached to 801st Bombardment Group (Provisional), move from
Rackheath and Cheddington respectively to Harrington, England with
B-24s; the
788th flies CARPETBAGGER missions over Europe and the 850th will
commence
these missions on 31 May.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): About 590 B-26s attack
railroad,
bridges, and marshalling yards in France. P-47s bomb targets in NW
Europe.
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