September 29th, 1944
Hello Stephane !
There is indeed somethig a little mysterious with the loss-reports that day for the 9th AF A-20 units.
In the MACR's for the day you find 5 A-20 MIA or lost. Those are well known (2 on the morning mission to Bitburg and 3 at the afternoon mission to Julich) I suggest, you know the a/c serials, the crews and the fate of those.
But in the 9th AF summary of operations that day, two more A-20 of 410th BG are noted as lost on a mission to Bingen MY. Unfortunately without an MACR.
Furtheron, this summary of operations reports one additional A-20 as battle-damaged cat "E" and one as cat "B"
Microfilm # A5686 gives an additional A-20 s/n 439687 as lost to "enemy operations" on September 30th, 1944, assigned to 409th BG.
This is not possible, since there was no lost of bombers on the 9th AF operation to Arnheim, according to the operation summary. So I am dating this loss to September 29th, 1944 or a date short before.
You see, there are enough possibilities for an A-20 mishap in France that date. For more details, please contact me offboard.
Best regards
Horst Weber
|