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SUNDAY, 3 SEPTEMBER 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 2 missions are flown.
1. Mission 601: 393 of 404 B-17s make a visual attack on 16 gun
batteries
and defensive installations in the Brest, France area; 2 B-17s are
lost and
13 damaged; 16 airmen are MIA. Escort is provided by 15 of 16 P-51s
without
loss. Bad weather cancels fighter-bomber mission by 50 P-38s against
strongpoints in the Brest area.
2. 345 B-17s are dispatched to bomb the Ludwigshafen/Opau synthetic
oil
plant in Germany (325); 1 hits a target of opportunity and 5 drop
leaflets; 1
B-17 is lost and 103 damaged; 9 airmen are MIA. Escort is provided
by 233 of
254 P-51s; they claim 7-0-1 aircraft; 1 P-51 is lost (pilot MIA) and
2
damaged.
125 of 127 P-47s strafe transportation targets in the Tilburg, the
Netherlands, Namur, Belgium and Cologne, Germany areas; they claim
0-0-1
aircraft on the ground; 1 P-47 is lost (pilot MIA), 1 damaged beyond
repair
and 18 damaged; 1 pilot is WIA.
40 B-24s and 4 C-47s fly CARPETBAGGER missions during the night.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In France, B-26s and A-20s
supporting ground troops pound strongpoints and bridges in the Brest
area;
fighters fly armed reconnaissance, ground support, and sweeps in N
and E
France, Belgium, and W Germany; HQ 365th Fighter Group and the
386th, 387th
and 388th Fighter Squadrons move from Lignerolles to Bretigny with
P-47s; and
the 125th Liaison Squadron, Ninth Air Force (attached to Ninth
Army), moves
from St Sauveur-Lendelin to Rennes with L-5s.
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