17 March 1944

FRIDAY, 17 MARCH 1944 - ST PATRICK'S DAY

EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)

STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 263: 135 P-47s are
dispatched on low level strafing attacks against airfields in France; 25
attack Soesterburg Airfield, The Netherlands and 25 attack Chartres, France;
they claim 3-2-8 Luftwaffe aircraft on the ground, 2 P-47s are lost, the
pilots are MIA.

TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): 70 B-26s bomb the marshalling yard
at Criel-sur-Mer, France.
HQ 441st Troop Carrier Group and 99th, 100th, 301st and 302d Troop Carrier
Squadrons, arrive at Langar, England from the US with C-47s.