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The Mighty Eighth - Friday, 15 December 1944

 

FRIDAY, 15 DECEMBER 1944

EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)

STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 2 missions are flown.
Mission 750: 674 B-17s and 434 fighters are dispatched to attack rail
targets and an armored car factory in Germany using H2X; 1 bomber and 2
fighters are lost:
1. 318 of 334 B-17s hit the marshalling yard and tank factories at Kassel;
5 others hit targets of opportunity; 6 B-17s are damaged beyond repair and 11
damaged; 25 airmen are KIA and 1 WIA. Escorting are 268 of 296 P-51s; 2 P-51s
are lost (pilots MIA) and 1 damaged beyond repair.
2. 327 of 340 B-17s bomb the marshalling yard at Hannover and 6 hit targets
of opportunity; 1 B-17 is lost and 7 damaged. Escorting are 241 P-47s and
P-51s without loss.
3. 19 of 24 P-51s fly a scouting mission.
Mission 751: 2 of 3 B-17s drop leaflets in France and Germany during the
night.

SUPREME HEADQUARTERS, ALLIED EXPEDITIONARY FORCES (SHAEF): Major Alton
Glenn Miller, s/n 0505273, Director of the USAAF band, boards a UC-64A for a
flight to Paris. Miller's big band was one of the most popular prior to WWII;
he enlisted in the AAF in 1942 and formed a band to entertain the troops in
the ETO. Miller is on his way to Paris to make arrangements for a Christmas
Show; he and the Flight Officer pilot takeoff, disappear in low cloud and are
never seen again.

TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In Germany, 300+ A-20s, A-26s, and
B-26s hit defended positions, camp area, and oil storage at Heimbach,
Wollseifen, Harperscheid, Schonau, Ruthen, and Dorsel; fighters escort the
9th Bombardment Division, hit supply and ammunition dumps and other targets
during bombing attacks and armed reconnaissance, and support the US 2d and
99th Infantry Divisions in the area of Westwall fortifications, the 78th
Infantry Division at Kesternich, and the 8th Infantry and 5th Armored
Divisions N of Kesternich; fighters support the XX and XII Corps in the
Dillingen-Saarlautern area and at Habkirchen and heights along the Blies
River.



 

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