4 July 1944 8th AAF reports needed

[canonne]

Bonjour,

I am searching for some of the “8 Air Force Narrative of Operations (for Bomb and Fighter Groups” reports for 4 July 1944

I wish you a Merry Christmas.

Philippe

[Larry]

Are you looking for a specific report or an idea of what was going on on 4th July 1944. If the later then see below from Diary of an Air War by Gerrit Zijlstra, which he compiled from USAAF war diaries:


8th Air Force Fortresses and Liberators attacked airfields, marshalling and various other tactical targets. An intended attack on the railroad bridge at Saumur had to be abandoned. When the Fortresses arrived weather had become so bad that the target could not be identified. Beaumont-le-Roger Airfield received a load (of bombs)causing much damage. P-51 and P-47s flew escort missions and further patrols, fighter sweeps, and bombing and strafing missions. It was a big day for the 56th Fighter Group. Out on a divebombing mission, the Thunderbolts arrived over their target, Conches Airfield. They had hardly dropped their bombs when all of a sudden a large number of Me-109s was spotted. The Thunderbolts chased the enemy fighters and in the dogfights ranging from 10,000 feet down to the deck, twenty Me-109s (sic) were shot down for no loss to the56th (proof was given by gun camera). Fighter-bombers of the 9th flew twenty missions today in the interdiction zone and made thirty rail cuts. Five locomotives and 113 cars were shot up.General Eisenhower made a reconnaissance flight in the St. Lo area in backseat of a twin-seated Mustang. The pilot was General Quesada. Escort was furnished by fighters of the 354th Fighter Group, all of them taking off from a landing strip on the beachhead. This twin-seated Mustang was an old war-weary fighter from which the fuselage fuel tank behind the cockpit seat had been removed. In its place, a second seat was installed.