The Mighty Eighth Air Force
 plane
12 April 1944

WEDNESDAY, 12 APRIL 1944

EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)

STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 300: 455 bombers and 766
fighters dispatched to bomb industrial targets at Schweinfurt, Zwickau,
Oscheresleben, Schkeuditz, Halle and Leipzig are forced to abandon the
mission because of haze and multilayer clouds; Luftwaffe fighter opposition
is concentrated over N France and the bombers claim 10-6-7 fighters; 6
B-17s are lost, 2 damaged beyond repair and 1 damaged; 25 B-24s are
damaged; casualties are 12 KIA, 16 WIA and 56 MIA. Escort is provided by
124 P-38s, 449 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-47s and 193 Eighth and Ninth
Air Force P-51s; they claim 18-1-3 Luftwaffe aircraft in the air and 1-0-8
on the ground; 3 P-38s and 2 P-51s are lost, 2 P-47s are damaged beyond
repair and 3 P-38s, 17 P-47s and 1 P-51 are damaged; 5 pilots are MIA.
HQ 353d Fighter Group moves from Metfield to Raydon, England.

TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): 231 B-26s and 20 A-20s attack
railroad, shore batteries, radar installations, airfields, and V-weapon sites
at Dunkirk and Courtrai/Wevelghem, France; Coxyde/Furnes, De Pannes-Bains,
Saint Ghislain and Ostend, Belgium; and points along the coast. 70+ P-47s
dive-bomb military installations in N France.