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SATURDAY, 9 SEPTEMBER 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 3 missions are flown.
Mission 613: 68 of 72 B-17s fly
Operation GRASSY to drop 180 containers of
supplies to French Resistance Fighters 25 miles (40 km) S of
Besancon without
loss. Escort is provided by 30 of 32 P-51s without loss.
Mission 614: 1,140 bombers and 435
fighters are dispatched to hit targets
in W Germany; the primaries are attacked by both visual and PFF
means; 14
bombers and 1 fighter are lost:
1. 419 B-17s are dispatched to hit the marshalling yard at Mannheim
(387);
2 others hit targets of opportunity; 5 B-17s are lost and 197
damaged; 10
airmen are WIA and 54 MIA. Escort is provided by 140 of 152 P-51s
without
loss.
2. 337 B-24s are dispatched to hit the marshalling yard at Mainz
(265);
targets of opportunity are the marshalling yard at Worms (24) and
Koblenz
(6); 3 B-24s are lost, 3 damaged beyond repair and 104 damaged; 5
airmen are
KIA and 33 MIA. Escort is provided by 125 of 128 P-51s without loss.
3. 384 B-17s are dispatched to an armaments plant at Dusseldorf
(251);
targets of opportunity are Bonn (12), Leverkusen (11) and others
(16); 6
B-17s are lost, 2 damaged beyond repair and 148 damaged; 2 airmen
are KIA, 3
WIA and 63 MIA. Escort is provided by 142 of 155 P-51s; 1 P-51 is
lost.
Mission 618: 7 of 7 B-17s drop leaflets
on Belgium, France and Germany
during the night.
VIII Fighter Command fighter-bomber missions:
1. 44 P-47s sweep the Lingen-Munster-Haltern area to spot flak
positions
and troop concentrations and strafe an airfield; they claim 1-1-0
aircraft in
the air and on the ground.
2. 196 P-47s and P-51s bomb and strafe shipping between the German
mainland
and Schouwen, Overflakee and Walcheren Islands, the Netherlands,
installations on the islands, and rail and road traffic NW and NE of
Frankfurt/Main; they claim 13-0-5 aircraft in the air and on the
ground; 7
P-47s and 1 P-51 are lost; 1 P-47 and 1 P-51 are damaged beyond
repair and 14
P-47s and 3 P-51s are damaged; 1 pilot is WIA and 7 MIA.
40 B-24s and C-47s fly CARPETBAGGER mission during the night.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): B-26s fly a leaflet mission
to
coastal France and Belgium. In France, fighters fly escort, furnish
ground
force cover for the US VIII Corps in the Brest area, the 2d, 5th,
and 8th
Infantry Divisions of the US Third Army's XX Corps area W of Metz,
and fly
armed reconnaissance in areas around Nancy, and Aachen, Cologne,
Koblenz,
Bonn, and Saarbrucken, Germany; fighters also hit bridges at
Custines and
Pompey; 700+ C-47s fly missions; HQ 71st Fighter Wing moves from
Rennes to
Versailles; the 15th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, 10th
Photographic
Group (Reconnaissance), moves from Chateaudun to St Dizier with
F-6s; the
96th Troop Carrier Squadron, 440th Troop Carrier Group, moves from
Bottesford,
England to Reims with C-47s; the detachment of the 112th Liaison
Squadron,
Ninth Air Force, operating from Valognes with L-5s, returns to base
at
Jullouville; and the 160th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, 363d
Tactical
Reconnaissance Group, moves from Azeville to Montrevil with F-6s.
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