The Mighty Eighth Air Force
 plane
27 August 1944
SUNDAY, 27 AUGUST 1944

EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)

STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Two major missions are flown
against Berlin and strategic targets in N and C Germany; 3 bombers and 10
fighters are lost:
Mission 583: 426 B-17s are dispatched but encounter very high clouds over
Denmark and N Germany and are recalled; 5 hit Ausum Airfield, 4 hit targets
of opportunity and 1 hits Flensburg marshalling yard; 2 B-17s are lost and 16
damaged; 9 airmen are MIA. Escort is provided by 180 of 194 P-51s; 3 P-51s
are lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 2 damaged; 1 pilot is KIA and 3 MIA.
Mission 584: 777 bombers and 351 fighters are dispatched:
1. Of 371 B-17s dispatched, targets hit are Esbjerg Airfield (60), Emden
marshalling yards and docks (37), Wilhelmshaven (34), Heligoland Island (11),
Island of Fano (1) and Island of Sylt (1); 1 B-17 is lost, 2 damaged beyond
repair and 54 damaged; 1 airman is KIA, 5 WIA and 10 MIA. Escort is provided
by 156 of 167 P-51s; they claim 1-0-0 aircraft in the air and 1-0-0 on the
ground; 7 P-51s are lost and 1 damaged; 7 pilots are MIA.
2. 34 of 406 B-24s hit Heligoland Island; 3 B-24s are damaged. Escort is
provided by 169 P-38s and P-51s; 7 P-51s are damaged.
316 of 326 P-47s fly fighter-bomber missions against transport in E France;
they claim 14-0-4 aircraft on the ground; 1 P-47 is lost (pilot is MIA).
Mission 585: 6 of 6 B-17s drop leaflets in France and the Netherlands
during the night.

TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In France, the IX Bomber Command
attacks troop concentrations in the Rouen area, Rouen bridge, Boulogne-sur-
Mer/Boursin navigational beam station, and Bucy-les-Pierrepont and Foret de
Samoussy fuel dumps; fighters cover ground forces and fly sweeps and armed
reconnaissance in the Senlis area and S of the Loire River claiming 16
aircraft (11 in the air) destroyed, and losing 6; the 31st Photographic
Reconnaissance Squadron, 10th Photographic Group (Reconnaissance), moves from
Rennes to Chateaudun with F-5s; the 112th Liaison Squadron, Ninth Air Force,
moves from Heston, England to Jullouville with L-5s; and the 395th and 396th
Fighter Squadrons, 368th Fighter Group, moves from Cardonville to Chartres
with P-47s.