The Mighty Eighth Air Force
 plane
24 December 1944
SUNDAY, 24 DECEMBER 1944

EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)

AIRBORNE OPERATIONS (IX Troop Carrier Command): 160 C-47s drop 160 tons of
supplies at Bastogne, Belgium.

STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 2 missions are flown.
Mission 759: 10 of 12 B-24s hit the La Pallice coastal battery in France
without loss.
Mission 760: A high pressure front across W Europe brings clear weather and
the Eighth AF launches a maximum effort against airfields and communications
in W Germany; this was the largest air strike of WWII; 2,034 bombers and 853
fighters are dispatched; they claim 92-6-21 Luftwaffe aircraft; 12 bombers
and 10 fighters are lost:
1. 858 B-17s are dispatched to hit airfields at Darmstadt (189), Frankfurt-
Rheine (143), Bilbis (100), Babenhausen (96), Zellhausen (85) and Gross
Ostheim (60); secondary targets hit are marshalling yards at Pforzheim (37)
and Kaiserslautern (24) and Haildraum (60); 26 targets of opportunity are
hit by 37 B-17s; they claim 18-5-1 aircraft; 8 B-17s are lost, 11 damaged
beyond repair and 337 damaged; 15 airmen are KIA, 21 WIA and 76 MIA.
Escorting are 343 of 358 P-51s; they claim 53-0-6 aircraft; 7 P-51s are lost
(pilots MIA) and 1 damaged beyond repair.
2. 542 B-17s are dispatched to hit the Merzhausen air depot (198) and
airfields at Giessen (74), Kirchgons (54), Nidda (53) and Ettinghausen (43);
secondary targets hit are Koblenz (42), Darmstadt (7), Kaiserslautern (5) and
Babenhausen (4); 20 B-17s hit a target of opportunity; 2 B-17s are lost, 9
damaged beyond repair and 109 damaged; 21 airmen are KIA, 23 WIA and 18 MIA.
Escort is provided by 350 of 368 P-51s; they claim 13-1-13 aircraft; 3 P-51s
are lost (pilots MIA) and 1 damaged beyond repair.
3. 634 B-24s are dispatched to hit Euskirchen (62), Wittlich (62),
Gerolstein (59), Mayen (59), Ahrweiller (54), Bitburg (35), Eller (32),
Pfazel (28), Ruwer (27), Schonecken (26), Rheinbach (25), Daun (24),
Wetteldorf (18), and Cochem (11); 75 others hit 18 targets of opportunity; 2
B-24s are lost, 3 damaged beyond repair and 150 damaged; 1 airman is KIA, 5
WIA and 20 MIA. Escorting are 87 of 92 P-47s and P-51s; they claim 4-0-0
aircraft without loss.
4. 24 of 24 P-51s fly a scouting mission; they claim 3-0-1 aircraft without
loss.
5. 9 of 11 P-51s escort 9 Spitfires and 8 F-5s on a photo reconnaissance
mission over Germany; they claim 1-0-0 aircraft without loss.

TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): 276 B-26s and A-20s hit rail bridges
and communications centers in W Germany; fighters escort the 9th Bombardment
Division, fly armed reconnaissance, and support the US III, VIII, and XII
Corps along the S battleline of the Bulge, stretching from Echternach,
Luxembourg to the area NW of Neufchateau, Belgium as the 4th Armored Division
reaches the enemy's ring around Bastogne. The 160th Tactical Reconnaissance
Squadron, 363d Tactical Reconnaissance Group, based at Le Culot, Belgium with
F-6s and P-51s, begins operating from Conflans, France.