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The 8th Air Force ordered two strikes on the V-1 rocket sites. The afternoon mission would be a follow-up to the morning's run. We're led to believe that the 492nd didn't participate in the morning run, but contributed in the later one.
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Little was recorded about the details of this job. The Group only dispatched 4 planes, led by the Ogden Crew 606. It's possible that they were asked to hook up with another group that was short-handed. Two of the crews were from the 856th. The other two were former 858th crews reassigned to the 859th.
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It's hard to say what the fighter protection was for the 492nd on this mission. But there was plenty of protection buzzing all over France. Since there were no Luftwaffe attacks, one can easily say the protection was excellent.
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Reports say that the afternoon milk run wasn't challenged by the Luftwaffe. However, the Mighty 8th did run into some flak and lost a bomber. The 492nd substained no damage.
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Usually Crossbow targets are led by a Pathfinder. We have no indication if this job used one or not. There were no grades recorded as to the bombing accuracy.
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These small missions were just as important and sometimes just as dangerous as the big ones. But on this day the crews that were given this run had it easy, especially considering the beating their comrades took on the other mission to Politz.
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For the Mock Crew 804, this was the end of their short two-day stint with the 859th. They were reassigned to the help fill the huge void in the 856th. They became one the few crews that flew with three different squadrons of the 492nd.
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The Steneman Crew 809 remained with the 859th and was redesignated as Crew 909.
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