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Back to Mission 39 Mission 40a — Sunday, 25 Jun 44 — La Vaupeliere Forward to Mission 40b
Mission 40a
Under one Field Order, the Group flew 2 seperate missions at the same time that morning (see "The Bigger Picture" link to the right). This one, number 40a, was to a tactical target near La Vaupeliere, France. The Group dispatched 12 planes under the command of Major Mahoney. He led the mission from the plane flown by the Harding Crew 902.
Mission Numbering
How there came to be a mission number 40a and 40b is somewhat of a mystery to us. We may end up renumbering them as 40 and 41, incrementing the subsequent mission numbers up accordingly, but for now they'll remain as 40a and 40b. For more details (and further confusion), see the "Mission Numbering Controversy" link to the right.
Fighter Protection
Since all targets for the day were in France, the fighters of the 8th and 9th Air Forces had the skies well covered.
Enemy Resistance
Many groups reported running into heavy flak. But the 492nd seemed to miss it as they suffered no damages. Or should we have said that the flak missed them?
Bombsight
Not much was reported about this milk run. We don't even know what they bombed, let alone how well they did. All we really know is that all 12 ships attacked the target.
Epilogue
The Battle of the Hedgerows is one of the more under-rated battles of the war. It took almost two months of hard fighting before the Allies could break out. Because of that and the terror of V-1 rockets, the Mighty 8th wouldn't be able to make as many runs into Germany as they wanted to.
For the airmen who had to go into Germany, these short trips were a welcomed change in orders. These missions increased their overall chances of surviving the war.
Mission Data
Mission: 40a
Date: 25 Jun 44
City: La Vaupeliere, France
Target: Tactical
Aircraft
DIS:
12
Abort:
0
ATT:
12
RTB:
12
Lost:
0
PFF:
0
Bomb Load
Tons: 29
Type: n/a
Result: n/a
Enemy Action
Flak: n/a
GAF: None
Counter Action
Kills: 0
492nd Casualties
KIA:
0
WIA:
0
POW:
0
INT:
0
More Info
This mission's impact
on the overall war
Essay on the
perplexing mission
numbering puzzle
492ndBombGroup.com — an Arnett Institute project
Page last modified Thursday, May 11, 2017.