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SUNDAY, 26 NOVEMBER 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 2 missions are flown.
Mission 725: 1,137 bombers and 732 fighters are dispatched to make
attacks
on rail viaducts, marshalling yards and oil installations in W
Germany; all
but 1 attack is with radar; about 550 Luftwaffe fighters intercept
and 34
bombers and 9 fighters are lost; the AAF claims 133-14-42 aircraft:
1. 406 B-17s are sent to hit an oil refinery at Misburg (243) and a
rail
viaduct at Altenbekin (118); 19 hit the secondary, the marshalling
yard at
Osnabruck; 3 others hit a target of opportunity; they claim 4-6-7
aircraft;
10 B-17s are lost, 4 damaged beyond repair and 160 damaged; 4 airmen
are KIA,
6 WIA and 93 MIA. Escorting are 292 P-47s and P-51s; they claim
67-2-11
aircraft; 3 P-51s are lost (pilots MIA) and 2 damaged beyond repair.
2. 350 B-24s are sent to hit the Schidesche rail viaduct at
Bielefeld (240)
and the Misburg oil refinery (57); targets of opportunity are
Hannover
marshalling yard (26) and other (1); they claim 12-5-4 aircraft; 21
B-24s are
lost, 3 damaged beyond repair and 53 damaged; 15 airmen are KIA, 6
WIA and
196 MIA. Escorting are 208 P-47s and P-1s; they claim 42-0-18
aircraft; 2
P-47s and 3 P-51s are lost (pilots MIA).
3. 381 B-17s are sent to hit the marshalling yard at Hamm (266);
other
marshalling yards hit are at Gutersloh (37), Bielefeld (36), Herford
(24)
plus 3 hit other targets; 3 B-17s are lost, 1 damaged beyond repair
and 86
damaged; 1 airman is WIA and 27 MIA. Escorting are 132 of 138 P-51s;
they
claim 3-0-1 aircraft on the ground; 1 P-51 is lost (pilot MIA).
4. 36 of 36 P-51s fly a scouting mission; they claim 5-1-2 aircraft
without
loss.
Mission 726: 8 B-17s and 6 B-24s drop leaflets on France, the
Netherlands
and Germany during the night.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In Germany, 173 B-26s and
A-20s bomb
supply, storage, stores, and ordnance depots at Gaulsheim,
Bergzabern,
Giessen, Reichenbach, and Homburg/Saar; fighters fly sweeps and
armed
reconnaissance over W Germany, search for a lost A-20, escort 9th
Bombardment
Division, and support the US 29th Infantry Division at Bourheim and
the XX
and XII Corps in the area of the Maginot Line and German-French
border. The
390th and 391st Fighter Squadrons, 366th Fighter Group, move from
Couvron
Airfield at Laon, France to Asch, Belgium with P-47s.
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