The Mighty Eighth Air Force
 plane
30 April 1944
SUNDAY, 30 APRIL 1944

EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)

STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 329: 295 bombers and 644
fighters are dispatched to 3 targets in France; the bombers claim 3-0-6
Luftwaffe aircraft and the fighters claim 18-1-5 in the air and 11-0-17 on
the ground; 1 bomber and 5 fighter are lost:
1. 114 of 116 B-17s bomb Lyon/Bron Airfield; 1 B-17 is lost and 8 damaged;
10 airmen are MIA.
2. 118 of 124 B-17s bomb Clermont-Ferrand/Aulnat Airfield; 9 B-17s are
damaged.
3. 52 of 55 B-24s bomb V-weapon sites at Siracourt; 3 B-24s are damaged; 1
airman is WIA.
Escort is provided by 128 P-38s, 268 P-47s and 248 Eighth and Ninth Air
Force P-51s: 44 P-38s, using the Droopsnoot method, bomb Tours Airfield, 1
P-38 is lost and 1 damaged, 1 pilot is MIA; 14 P-47s dive-bomb Romorantin
Airfield plus escort the bombers and claim 9-1-5 Luftwaffe aircraft, 4 P-47s
are damaged; P-51s claim 20-0-17 aircraft, 4 P-51s are lost, 1 damaged beyond
repair and 6 damaged, 1 airman is WIA and 3 MIA.
Mission 330: 4 of 4 B-17s drop 2.23 million leaflets on 21 towns in
Belgium, France and The Netherlands including Zwolle, Hala, Alost, Louvain,
Leeuwarden, Reims, Metz, Strasburg, Epinal, Tours, Saarguemines, Mulhouse,
Troyes and Orleans without loss.
Mission 331: 128 fighters carry out fighter-bomber attacks in France; 22
P-38s, with 24 escorts, attack Orleans/Bricy Airfield using the Droopsnoot
method, 2 are damaged; 21 P-47s, with 10 escorts, bomb the same target
shortly later and 5 hit a V-weapon site as a target of opportunity, 3 are
damaged; 51 P-51s swept the area before the attacks without loss.
20 B-24s are dispatched on CARPETBAGGER missions without loss.

TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): 300+ B-26s and A-20s attack V-weapon
construction works and marshalling yards in France.