SUNDAY, 5 MARCH 1944



STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 248: 219 B-24s are dispatched to hit airfields at Mont De Marsan, Cayeux and Bordeaux/Merignac, France but bad cloud conditions force a target change and multiple aborts; 62 hit Bergerac Airfield, 60 hit Cognac/Chateaubernard Airfield, 41 hit Landes de Bussac Airfield and 1 hits La Roche Airfield; they claim 14-2-5 Luftwaffe aircraft; 4 B-24s are lost, 1 is damaged beyond repair and 23 damaged; casualties are 1 WIA and 35 MIA. Escort is provided by 34 P-38s, 185 P-47s and 88 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-51s; 2 P-38s are lost, 1 is damaged beyond repair and 1 pilot is killed and another MIA; 1 P-47 is damaged and 1 pilot is KIA; the P-51s claim 14-0-6 Luftwaffe aircraft in the air and 0-0-6 on the ground; 3 P-51s are lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 1 damaged; 1 pilot is WIA and 4 MIA.