View Single Post
  #2  
Old 5th June 2011, 03:16
Larry deZeng Larry deZeng is offline
Alter Hase
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 2,604
Larry deZeng will become famous soon enoughLarry deZeng will become famous soon enough
Re: 8th Air Force weather

How would you define an "operating day"? There were days when the main bomber force was not dispatched, days when only a few bombers were sent out, days when no bombers flew but recce aircraft did, days when just leaflet-dropping aircraft operated, days when just 8th AAF Fighter Command flew missions, etc. The various combinations and permutations are numerous.

The Freeman books, The Mighty Eighth and The Mighty Eighth War Diary, do not have this statistical information. I also checked 10 of the most obvious web sites and did not find it either. The Mighty Eighth War Diary shows and describes each numbered 8th AAF mission, but you would need to review these yourself to determine which ones meet your criteria for an "operating day". It's not just a simple matter of taking the last mission flown on 31 December 1944 (No. 773) and subtracting the first one flown in January 1944 (No. 172) because there were two and sometimes three numbered missions flown on a single day.

L.
Reply With Quote