15 September 1944

The Mighty Eighth - Friday, 15 September 1944

 

FRIDAY, 15 SEPTEMBER 1944

EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)

STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 633: As part of Operation
FRANTIC, 110 B-17s are dispatched to drop supplies to Warsaw patriots and
then proceed to bases in the USSR; a weather front is encountered over the
North Sea and the bombers are recalled. Escort is provided by 149 of 156
P-51s; 2 P-51s collide in a cloud and are lost.
Three Fighter Wings and the 15 Fighter Groups are reassigned from the VIII
Fighter Command to the three Bombardment Divisions as follows:
1st Bombardment Division
67th Fighter Wing: 20th, 352d, 356th, 359th and 364th Fighter Groups
2d Bombardment Division
65th Fighter Wing: 4th, 56th, 355th, 361st and 479th Fighter Groups
3d Bombardment Division
66th Fighter Wing: 55th, 78th, 339th, 353d and 357th Fighter Groups

TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In France, bad weather prevents
bomber operations; the IX Tactical Air Command supports US First Army troops
and in Germany, flies armed reconnaissance around Cologne and from Trier to
the Rhine River area; the XIX Tactical Air Command supports the US Third Army
and flies armed reconnaissance in the Nancy-Strasbourg area; HQ Ninth AF
moves from Sunninghill Park, England to Chantilly; HQ 48th Fighter Group and
the 492d and 494th Fighter Squadrons move from Villacoublay to Camrai/
Niergnies with P-47s; HQ 50th Fighter Group and the 10th, 81st and 313th
Fighter Squadrons move from Orly to Laon with P-47s; HQ 365th Fighter Group
moves from Bretigny to Juvincourt; the 365th, 366th and 367th Fighter
Squadrons, 358th Fighter Group, move from Pontorson to Vitry-le-Francois with
P-47s; and the 597th and 598th Bombardment Squadrons (Medium), 397th
Bombardment Group (Medium), move from Gorges to Dreux with B-26s.

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