Air War Europa Chronology by Eric Hammel

Author:Eric Hammel [Hammel, Eric]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pacifica Military History
Published: 2009-07-13T21:00:00+00:00

June 1944

June 1, 1944

FRANCE: Nearly 100 IX Bomber Command B-26s attack airdromes and coastal defense batteries from the Belgian frontier to the Cherbourg Peninsula.

ITALY: All Twelfth Air Force combat sorties are devoted to direct support of advancing Allied ground forces. Troop positions, lines of communication, rail and road targets, motor vehicles, and numerous other targets are bombed and strafed throughout the day.

June 2, 1944

ENGLAND: Ninth Air Force ground-air liaison officers (i.e., “forward air controllers”) are briefed on the Normandy invasion plan by the 21st Army Group.

FRANCE: During the morning, 805 Eighth Air Force B-17s and B-24s attack 64 V-weapons sites without loss.

During the afternoon, 163 Eighth Air Force B-17s attack rail targets in the Paris area; a total of 62 B-17s divert from Paris and attack Beaumont-sur-Oise, Caen/Carpiquet, and Conches airdromes; and a total of 74 B-24s attack Bretigny, Creil, and Villeneuve airdromes. Two B-17s and five B-24s are lost.

The 491st Heavy Bombardment Group, in B-24s, makes its combat debut with the 2d Bombardment Division’s 95th Combat Bombardment Wing.

Throughout the day, nearly 350 IX Bomber Command B-26s and A-20s attack V-weapons sites and coastal-defense bat-teries along the English Channel coast. Also, Ninth Air Force P-38 and P-47 dive-bombers attack rail bridges and junctions, V-weapons sites, and fuel dumps.

HUNGARY: In the Fifteenth Air Force’s inaugural mission of Operation FRANTIC, 130 B-17s from four groups of the 5th Heavy Bombardment Wing, escorted by 70 325th Fighter Group P-51s, leave their bases in Italy to attack strategic targets deep in central Europe (in this case, a marshalling yard at Debreczen, Hungary) and then fly on to land at USAAF-run bases (Eastern Command) in the southern Soviet Union—bombers at Mirgorod and Poltava airdromes, and fighters at Piryatin Airdrome. LtGen Ira C. Eaker participates in the mission as aerial commander.

Fifteenth Air Force B-24s attack marshalling yards at Miskolc and Szolnok and then return to their bases in Italy.

ITALY: Twelfth Air Force B-25s and B-26s attack rail and road bridges between the battle area and Rome; and XII TAC fighter-bombers attack German Army command posts, rail and road bridges, and motor transport throughout the battle area.

ROMANIA: Fifteenth Air Force B-17s attack a marshalling yard at Oradea, and B-24s attack marshalling yards at Cluj and Simeria.

June 3, 1944

FRANCE: During the morning, despite heavy cloud cover, 219 Eighth Air Force B-17s and 120 B-24s attack tactical targets, mostly coastal-defense positions, in the Pas-de-Calais area. Forty-five bombers are damaged by flak, but none is lost.

Specially equipped B-17s of the 492d Heavy Bombardment Group’s 36th Heavy Bombardment Squadron mount the USAAF’s first daylight radio-countermeasures sorties of the war. The objective is to jam or confound range-finding radars controlling GAF flak batteries.

More than 250 IX Bomber Command B-26s and A-20s attack airfields, coastal-defense batteries, and highway bridges in northern France; and, throughout the day, more than 400 Ninth Air Force P-38 and P-47 dive-bombers attack numerous targets in France and throughout northern Europe.

During the afternoon, 97 Eighth Air Force B-17s and 98 B-24s attack tactical targets, mostly coastal-defense positions, in the Pas-de-Calais area.

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