Mission 13

Mission Summaries > January 1944

FRIDAY, 21 JANUARY
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force):

2 missions are flown:

Mission 187:

36 V-weapon sites in France, 34 in the Pas de Calais area and 2 in the Cherbourg area, are targeted; 24 are attacked by 302 of 597 B-17's and 68 of 198 B-24's; 15 B-17's and 6 of 9 B-24's hit targets of opportunity (2 V-weapon sites and 3 airfields (Yvrench)); they claim 5-1-2 Luftwaffe aircraft; 5 B-24's and a B-17 are lost, 3 B-24's are damaged beyond repair, and 103 B-17's and 41 B-24's are damaged; casualties are 2 KIA, 31 WIA and 74 MIA. This mission is escorted by 49 P-38's, 531 P-47's and 48 Ninth Air Force P-51's; they claim 6-0-4 Luftwaffe aircraft in the air and 2-2-0 on the ground; 1 P-47 is lost, 1 is damaged beyond repair and 1 damaged; casualties are 1 MIA.

Mission 188:

During the night, 5 of 5 B-17's drop 1.2 million leaflets on Reims, Nantes, Le Mans, Tours and Orleans, France without loss.

Target: Primary - Bonnières, France - V-1 Rocket Launch Site Last Resort - Yvrench, France - German Occupied Airfield
8th Air Force F.O. No:	187
Aircraft Taking Off:	29
Aircraft Dispatched:	29
Aircraft Aborts:	0
Aircraft Over Primary:	12
Aircraft Over Secondary:	5
Aircraft Over Last Resort:	12
Aircraft Bomb Load:	12 x 500 lb. AN-M43 General Purpose bombs
Group Bomb Load:	348 x 500 lb. AN-M43 General Purpose bombs
Results:	Unobserved due to cloud cover
Tactical Mission Report:	Assembly: Received the Stand-By order at 0800 - Briefed at 1000. Crews were all present and on time. Time between briefing and take-off was much shorter than we had been using and ships were slow in getting off. First ship off at 1138, 8 minutes late. Last ship off at 1224. Group assembly was good considering difficulty on take-off. Assembly with 389th was accomplished in good shape at 1235 over Buncher 6, on time. Climb: Formation was fair on the climb but tightened up on level off at 12,000 feet and good Wing formation was held to first turning point in Channel when 389th left the formation escort to their target as briefed. I.P.: Group formed into 6 ship flights as briefed. One red flare was fired at the I.P. turn, and the bomb bay doors were opened. Target: Low clouds increased as we neared the target to about between 6 to 8/10 at the target. Target was pre-pointed however after initial run had been made. Bombs were held because the bombardier had too little time to synchronize due to clouds. First Section: We made landfall as briefed and turned on the bombing run at I.P. and turned to a heading of 112° from the Initial Point. The cloud cover was from 7/10 to 8/10 from the coast to the target area. We made five runs before dropping bombs. The bomb impacts were seen to the N.E. of the M.P.I. Five aircraft dropped electronically; each dropped 12 x 500 GP bombs. Second Section: Dummy airdrome sighted upon crossing the enemy coast but the target was out of sight. Four runs were made with no success. Looked for enemy airdromes and did not sight any. Bombed coastal defenses below Dieppe with direct hits on trenches and barbed wire. Third Section: We passed over the target on the first run without sighting it. We made five more runs, waiting for a break in the clouds to enable us to bomb visually. On the sixth run the target was visual for approximately 25 seconds. The lead bombardier made a bombing run but was unable to synchronize well. As the unit was overdue on thjeir briefed departure time, and the clouds gave no promise of any better visibility, the bombs were dropped. The impacts were spotted west and south of the MPI. Fourth Section: Upon arriving at the I.P. as briefed and making our bomb run, it was found that the target was obscured by cloud coverage, so we picked a target of opportunity. The target was an air- drome. The aiming point chosen was the group of buildings on the north side of the field. Di- rect hits were seen on the buildings and installations. 12 aircraft dropped 143 x 500 GP's. Enemy Fighter Opposition: None Friendly Fighter Cover: Good Flak: Moderate to heavy, accurate flak was seen to the right of course from I.P. to target.
Losses: None
Note: None