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All of the day's objectives were in France. The 14th Wing drew a railroad bridge at Espermay. Each group in the 14th Wing sent up one squadron's worth of planes, so the wing's assembly only had group-sized strength.
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The 492nd put up 12 planes under the command of the Velarde Crew 615. None of them aborted during the assembly. This mission called for visual bombing by the bombardiers.
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French airspace was well protected by the combined strength of fighters from the 8th and 9th Air forces. The 14th Wing didn't encounter any Luftwaffe activity.
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The 14th Wing didn't run into any flak, either. If it hadn't been for the poor weather, it would have been a perfect day.
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Poor visiblity over the target called for the Wing to abort its primary target. At this point some of the planes from the 14th Wing returned to England, including 2 crews from the 492nd and 8 from the 392nd.
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The remaining crews crossed over into Belgium for a target of opportunity. We don't know what they found, but the reports say that the Group dropped on a target near Alost, Belgium, located around the Brussels area. The bombing results are not known.
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After the heavy beating the Group took yesterday, they needed an easy mission. On this day they were the lucky ones, seeing neither flak nor enemy fighters. The Germans were out there, however, as the 8th Air Force lost 9 bombers on this day's milk runs.
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They caught another break with the weather and the 8th Air Force gave the 492nd the next two days off. Afterward, they would be scheduled to see Munich twice on back-to-back missions.
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| Mission Data |
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47
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Date:
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08 Jul 44
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Alost, Belgium
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Target of
opportunity
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Aircraft
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Bomb Load
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Tons:
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40
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Type:
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1000 lb GPs
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Result:
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n/a
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Enemy Action
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Flak:
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None
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GAF:
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None
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Counter Action
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Kills:
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0
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492 Casualties
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KIA:
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WIA:
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POW:
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INT:
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