[Gunther]

Larry, you are right, of course regarding definitions. That's what's so frustrating about the available info--no definition of terms. Finally I consulted the AAF Combat Chronology which provides daily summaries of worldwide ops. For November-December 1943 the 8th launched major heavy bomber missions on 25 days (excluding one- and two-digit missions for harassment or leaflet drops) while the 15th logged 24, plus numerous medium bomber missions. (the B-25s and -26s were shortly returned to the 12th AF.) Anyone examining the same info might come up with somewhat different numbers, but it's clear that "Sunny Italy" offered no great advantage over "the Misty Isle", and that situation remained unchanged.