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The Group's second mission got underway during the late afternoon as the weather improved. This target was an airfield near Tours. Under the command of Captain Johnson, the pilot of Crew 903, the Group put up 12 planes.
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We don't have records that document the fighter protection for the 492nd on this mission. We do know that the 8th Air Force dispatched 257 escorts for this armada and had many other fighters flying about on targeted assignments. The fighters of the 8th Air Force did find a little of the Luftwaffe out and about and knocked down three of them.
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Unlike the earlier mission, this one ran into heavy flak. Although no planes from the 14 Wing were lost, many of them were damaged. The official 492nd report says that all 12 ships attacked their target. However, the squadron monthly reports conflicts with it, showing that at least three of the credited sorties weren't able to attack.
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We haven't found anything that says what the 492nd did once they reached the target. One suggestion is that the Group was to drop thier bombs on top of a fire started by bombs from another group led by a Pathfinder. If so, the Group could have followed the 392nd into the target area. And missed.
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The lead ship for the 392nd had a failure with its Pathfinder equipment and turned the lead position over to the deputy lead. The deputy lead was hit by flak on its approach to the target. As a fire broke out on board, they were forced to salvo their bombs off-target. The rest of their group didn't understand the situation as it developed and dropped their payloads on top of the salvoed bombs.
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Since little had been recorded about the 492nd's activity on this mission, most of material used for this summary was supplied by the 392nd and the USAAF. However, we don't have documentation that the two groups flew together. We only know that they had the same target and that they normally did fly together. The 392nd left around 1800 hours and returned about midnight.
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Stories of bomber groups that followed their crippled lead ship away from the target were common, even in daylight raids. Night flying and bad weather missions compounded such problems even more.
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