Narrative - Official Air Force Mission Description
VIII Air Support Command Mission 47: 144 B-26s are dispatched to 4 marshaling yards in France (36 B-26s to each target); 33 hit Courtrai marshaling yard at 1756 hours; 33 hit the Lille/Deliverance marshaling yard at 1756 hours; 34 hit the Hazebrouck marshaling yard at 1831 hours; and 23 hit the St Pol marshaling yard at 1833 hours; 22 B-26s are damaged; casualties are 3 WIA.
Source: THE ARMY AIR FORCES IN WORLD WAR II: COMBAT CHRONOLOGY, 1941-1945 by Carter / Mueller, the Office of Air Force History,
source: 386th Bomb Group http://www.b26.com/historian/chester_klier
388BG Mission Report - Twenty three planes took-off at 0555 hours and formed Group Wing formations without difficulty and followed the briefed course on this mission. The 388th lead the 403rd Combat Wing in the 2nd Air Task Force with the 96th tacked on as low Group.
Four planes aborted due to mechanical failure: Lt. Kramer, Lt. Melville, Lt. Branham and Lt. Beecham. The 19 remaining planes proceeded to the Target with direct hits on three of the 8 main buildings in the target area. Two bombs in Lt. Swift's plane hung up and these were brought back to base. The maintenance shops and factory/testing hangers were heavily hit and the machine shop received a direct hit.
There was no fighter opposition and flak was at a distance. All 19 of our planes returned to base by 1103 hours.
source: 388th Bomb Group web page http://www.388bg.info
