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THURSDAY, 28 SEPTEMBER 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
AIRBORNE OPERATIONS (IX Troop Carrier Command): In France, HQ 439th
Troop
Carrier Group and the 91st, 92d and 94th Troop Carrier Squadrons
move from
Juvincourt to Lonray with C-47s; the 95th, 96th and 97th Troop
Carrier
Squadrons, 440th Troop Carrier Group, move from Reims to Le Mans
with C-47s.
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 652: 1,049 bombers
and 724
fighters are dispatched to hit oil and military vehicle factories in
C
Germany using PFF means; they claim 37-8-18 Luftwaffe aircraft; 34
bombers
and 7 fighters are lost:
1. 445 B-17s are dispatched to hit the Magdeburg/Rothensee oil
refinery
(23); 359 hit the secondary at Magdeburg and 35 hit targets of
opportunity;
they claim 10-7-5 aircraft; 23 B-17s are lost, 2 damaged beyond
repair and
126 damaged; 8 airmen are WIA and 208 MIA. Escort is provided by 263
P-38s
and P-51s; they claim 24-0-13 aircraft in the air and 1-0-0 on the
ground; 5
P-51s are lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 4 damaged; 5 pilots are
MIA.
2. 342 B-17s are dispatched to hit the Merseburg/Leuna oil refinery
(301);
10 others hit targets of opportunity; 10 B-17s are lost, 4 damaged
beyond
repair and 251 damaged; 4 airmen are KIA, 15 WIA and 92 MIA. Escort
is
provided by 212 of 231 P-51s; they claim 2-1-0 aircraft in the air;
1 P-51 is
lost (pilot MIA).
3. 262 B-24s are dispatched to hit the Kassel/Henschel motor
transport
plant (243); 1 hits a target of opportunity; 1 B-24 is lost and 86
damaged;
10 airmen are MIA. Escort is provided by 171 of 195 P-47s; 1 P-47s
is lost
and 3 damaged; 1 pilot is MIA.
Mission 653: 4 B-24s and 6 B-17s drop leaflets in France, the
Netherlands
and Germany during the night.
194 B-24s fly a TRUCKIN' mission to France with fuel.
The 374th, 375th and 376th Fighter Squadrons, 361st Fighter Group,
move
from Bottisham to Little Walden, England with P-51s.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In France, bombers hit the
defended
area of Foret de Parroy; fighters escort bombers, attack railroads W
of the
Rhine River, fly sweeps and armed reconnaissance in Arnhem, the
Netherlands
(from which British airborne troops have relinquished their hold
because of
strong German opposition), the Koblenz, Strasbourg, Karlsruhe, and
Mannheim,
Germany areas, and support US First and Third Armies in E France and
W
Germany. Night patrols continue over Belgium, Luxembourg, and
Germany. In
France, HQ 50th Fighter Group moves from Laon to Lyons/Bron; HQ
410th
Bombardment Group (Light) moves from Gosfield, England to
Coulommiers; the
645th and 647th Bombardment Squadrons (Light), 410th Bombardment
Group
(Light), moves form Gosfield, England to Coulommiers with A-20s.
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