2 May 1945

WEDNESDAY, 2 MAY 1945

EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)

STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 2 missions are flown.
Mission 975: 401 B-17s are dispatched to drop food supplies in the
Netherlands at Schipol (250) and Alkmaar (20) Airfields, Vogelenznag (40),
Hilversum (20), Utrecht (59) and targets of opportunity (4); 4 B-17s are
damaged by 20mm fire which ceases as soon as a green flare is fired; a total
of 767.1 tons of food are dropped.
Mission 976: 8 B-17s, escorted by 9 P-51s, drop leaflets in France, the
Netherlands and Germany during daylight hours.

TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): Weather cancels 9th Bombardment
Division operations. In Germany, fighters fly airfield cover, defensive-
freelance patrols, a sweep over the Dessau area, and patrol the Straubing-
Ingolstadt area and the US Third Army front in Austria and Czechoslovakia;
unit moves: HQ 394th Bombardment Group (Medium) from Niergnies Airfield,
Cambrai, France to Venlo, the Netherlands; 14th Liaison Squadron, XIX
Tactical Air Command (attached to Twelfth Army Group) from Erlangen to
Regensburg with L-5s; 72d Liaison Squadron, Ninth AF (attached to Sixth Army
Group), from Gmund to Augsburg; 377th and 378th Fighter Squadrons, 362d
Fighter Group, and 425th Night Fighter Squadron, XIX Tactical Air Command,
from Frankfurt to Furth with P-47s and P-61s respectively.