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The Mighty Eighth -Tuesday, 17 April 1945 |
| TUESDAY, 17 APRIL 1945 EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO) STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 2 missions are flown. Mission 957: 1,054 bombers and 816 fighters are dispatched to hit rail targets in E Germany and W Czechoslovakia; 50 Luftwaffe fighters are encountered, mostly jets and the AAF claims a total of 300-0-119 aircraft destroyed on the ground and in the air (including 4 jets); 8 bombers and 17 fighters are lost. 1. 450 B-17s are dispatched to hit the rail center (152) and marshalling yard (276) at Dresden; they claim 1-0-1 aircraft; 6 B-17s are lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 130 damaged; 6 airmen are WIA and 50 MIA. Escorting are 230 of 257 P-51s; they claim 2-0-3 aircraft in the air and 91-0-37 on the ground; 2 P-51s are lost (pilots MIA). 2. 410 B-17s are sent to the Dresden area (76), rail junction and station at Aussig (86), and oil depot and marshalling yard at Roundnice (115); 86 hit the secondary target, the marshalling yard at Dresden; 2 B-17s are lost and 47 damaged; 1 airman is WIA and 18 MIA. 265 of 276 P-51s escort claiming 11-0-2 aircraft in the air and 142-0-47 on the ground; 14 P-51s are lost; 2 pilots are WIA and 14 MIA. 3. 194 B-24s are sent to hit the rail center and junction at Fischern (55), the rail junction and industry at Kladno (36), rail junction and bridge at Falkenau (37) and railroad, rail industry and marshalling yard at Beroun (61) without loss. The escort is 228 P-47s and P-51s; they claim 53-0-29 aircraft on the ground; 1 P-51 is lost (pilot MIA). 4. 24 of 25 P-51s fly scouting missions. 5. 9 P-51s escort 10 F-5s on photo reconnaissance missions over Germany. Mission 958: During the night of 17/18 Apr, 10 B-24s drop leaflets in France, the Netherlands and Germany and 19 of 20 B-24s fly CARPETBAGGER missions. TACTICAL OPERATIONS First Tactical Air Force (Provisional): Unit moves in Germany: the 415th Night Fighter Squadron, 64th Fighter Wing, from St Dizier, France to Braunstadt with Beaufighters; the 527th Fighter Squadron, 86th Fighter Group, from Tantonville, France to Braunschardt with P-47s. Ninth Air Force: In Germany, the 9th Bombardment Division attacks the defended city of Magdeburg (including numerous gun positions in the area), marshalling yard and ordnance depot at Aalen, marshalling yard and ordnance depot at Tubingen, and ordnance depot at Ravensburg; fighters fly escort to the bombers, fly patrols, area cover, and armed reconnaissance, hit airfields at Marianske Lazne and Michalovy Hory, and support the US 3d Armored Division mopping up S of the Elbe River and W of the Mulde River near Dessau, the 9th Armored Division along the Mulde E of Leipzig, the VIII Corps in the Greiz- Zwickau area, the XX Corps SW of Chemnitz, the 5th Armored Division at the Knesebeck Forest, S of Wittingen, and the 2d Armored Division opening an assault on Magdeburg. Unit moves in Germany: HQ 48th Fighter Group and 493d and 494th Fighter Squadrons from Kelz to Kassel with P-47s; the 15th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, 10th Tactical Reconnaissance Group, from Ober Olm to Erfurt with F-6s; the 158th Liaison Squadron, Ninth AF (attached to Twelfth Army Group), from Celles, Belgium to Ahrweiler with L-5s. |