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SUNDAY, 28 MAY 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 376: 1,341 bombers
and 697
fighters are dispatched to hit oil targets in Germany; 32 bombers
and 9
fighters are lost; they claim 64-30-31 Luftwaffe aircraft:
1. 610 B-17s are dispatched against an oil targets at Ruhland/Schwarz-Heide
(38 bomb) and aircraft factory at Dessau (12 bomb); secondary
targets are
aviation factories at Zwickau (15 bomb) and Leipzig (28 bomb); 14
bomber hit
Bohlen, 15 hit Meissen, 19 hit Brandis/Polenz Wusten-Sachsen
Airfield, 12 hit
Frankfurt marshalling yard, 32 hit Ubigau, 20 hit Dessau, 4 hit
Frankfurt, 5
hit Camburg and 22 hit targets of opportunity; they claim 20-21-18
Luftwaffe
aircraft; 17 B-17s are lost, 1 is damaged beyond repair and 107
damaged; 3
airmen are KIA, 15 WIA and 155 MIA.
2. 255 B-17s are dispatched to an oil dump at Konigsburg/Magdeburg
(105
bomb) and oil industry at Magdeburg/Rothensee (55 bomb); 17 hit
Dessau and 6
bomb the marshalling yard at Gera; they claim 16-8-6 Luftwaffe
aircraft; 9
B-17s are lost and 64 damaged; 3 airmen are KIA, 2 WIA and 90 MIA.
3. 106 B-24s are dispatched to Lutzkendorf/Halle (66 bomb); 10 hit
Wetzlar
and 6 hit a target of opportunity; 3 B-24s are lost and 16 damaged;
1 airman
is WIA and 3 MIA.
4. 311 B-24s are dispatched to oil targets at Merseburg/Leuna (63
bomb) and
Zeitz-Troglitz (187 bomb); 10 hit Limburg, 8 hit Memmingen, 9 hit
Saalfeld
and 10 hit targets of opportunity; they claim 1-0-0 Luftwaffe
aircraft; 3
B-24s are lost and 23 damaged; 1 airman is KIA, 1 WIA and 26 MIA.
5. 58 of 59 B-17s hit Cologne/Eifeltor marshalling yard without
loss; glide
bombs are used but the weapon proves unsuccessful.
Escort is provided by 182 P-38s, 208 P-47s and 307 P-51s; no P-38s
are lost;
P-47s claim 2-0-1 Luftwaffe aircraft in the air and 0-0-1 on the
ground with
the loss of 4 P-47s (pilots are MIA), 2 damaged beyond repair and 3
damaged;
P-51s claim 25-1-5 Luftwaffe aircraft with the loss of 5 (pilots are
MIA), 1
damaged beyond repair and 8 damaged. 527 Ninth Air Force fighters
also fly
escort and claim 33-0-10 Luftwaffe aircraft in the air and 5-0-7 on
the
ground for the loss of 5 fighters.
Mission 377: 5 of 5 B-17s drop leaflets in Belgium and Norway.
22 B-24s are dispatched on CARPETBAGGER missions; 1 is lost.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): 600+ B-26s and A-20s bomb
marshalling and naval yards, railway bridges and V-weapon sites in
France
and Belgium; 8 aircraft are lost. P-47s dive-bomb several targets in
the same
general area.
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