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THURSDAY, 21 SEPTEMBER 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 644: 486 bombers
are
dispatched to hit targets in W Germany using PFF methods; 2 bombers
are lost:
1. 154 B-17s are dispatched to hit the synthetic oil plant at
Ludwigshafen/
Opau (147); 2 others hit targets of opportunity; 54 B-17s are
damaged. Escort
is provided by 39 P-38s and P-51s; 1 fighter is lost.
2. 153 B-17s are dispatched to hit the marshalling yard at Mainz
(141); 52
B-17s are damaged; 2 airmen are WIA. Escort is provided by 34 of 35
P-51s
without loss.
3. 179 B-24s are dispatched to hit the marshalling yard at Koblenz
(144);
12 others hit targets of opportunity; 2 B-24s are lost, 3 damaged
beyond
repair and 83 damaged; 15 airmen are KIA, 3 WIA and 18 MIA. Escort
is
provided by 44 of 46 P-51s; 1 P-51 is lost (pilot MIA).
90 P-47s and P-51s support the First Allied Airborne Army C-47s
dropping
supplies and paratroops of the Polish 1st Brigade near Driel, the
Netherlands;
they encounter about 50 Luftwaffe fighters, claiming 20-0-2; 3 P-47s
are
lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 2 damaged; 3 pilots are MIA.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In Germany, 79 B-26s and
A-20s bomb
marshalling yards at Gerolstein, Pronsfeld, and Ebrang; fighters
escort
the bombers, fly armed reconnaissance over the Bonn, Koblenz,
Karlsruhe,
Cologne, and the Strasbourg area, and support the US First and Third
Armies
in W Germany and E France; the IX Tactical Air Command is
exceptionally
effective in aiding the V Corps withdrawal from the Wallendorf
bridgehead;
during the evening IX Air Defense Command fighters patrol the
Luxembourg-
Chaumont, France area. In Belgium, the 33d Photographic
Reconnaissance
Squadron, 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Group, moves from Toussus le
Noble,
France to Gosselies with F-5s. In France, HQ 323d Bombardment Group
(Medium)
and the 453d, 454th, 455th and 456th Bombardment Squadrons (Medium)
move from
Lessay to Chartres with B-26s; HQ 354th Fighter Group moves from
Gael to
Orconte; the 355th and 356th Fighter Squadrons, 354th Fighter Group,
move
from Gael to Orconte with P-47s; the 410th Fighter Squadron, 373d
Fighter
Group, moves from St-James to Reims with P-47s; the 584th
Bombardment
Squadron (Medium), 394th Bombardment Group (Medium), moves from
Tour-en-
Bassin to Bricy with B-26s; and the 670th Bombardment Squadron
(Light), 416th
Bombardment Group (Light), moves from Wethersfield, England to Melun
with
A-20s.
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