4 & 5 August, 1944 / 363rd Fighter Group - Marinelli & Prentis

[Henofred]

Hi/Bonjour,

I am looking for excerpts from the book “The History of the 363rd Fighter Group by Nick Marinelli and Harry Prentis” for August 4 and 5, 1944. If anyone has this book, details of the missions on those days would be very useful to me.

Best regards,
Frederic

[Sean Welch]

I don't have the Marinelli and Prentis book, but here is the detail from Kent D. Miller's book

August 4
(#285) Ll. Kammerlohr led 8 P-51s of the 380th on an AAP in
The Rennes area from 0628 to 0734.

(#286) Ll. Gallagher led 8 planes of the 381st on an AAP in the
Avranches area from 0810 to 0930.

(#287) Ll. Brink led 8 P-51s of the 382nd on an AAP in the
Brest area from 1125 to 1400. Two pilots aborted, and one of
them, Lt. Santarlasci, O-810573, bailed out near Granville after his engine
quit. He returned to Maupertus later in the day.

(#288) Lt. Munder led 8 planes of the 381st on an AAP in the
Avranches area from 1405 to 1650.

(#289) 8 P-51 s of the 382nd new an AAP in Ihe Avranches/Rennes
area from 1600 to 1830.

(#290) Lt. Ballinger led 8 P-51 s of Ihe 380th on an AAP in the
Avranches area from 180 I to 2025.

(#291) Ll. Boland led 8 planes of the 381st on an AAP in the
Avranches area from 2000 to 2200.

No sorties on 5th August

Sean

[Henofred]

Hi Sean,

Thank you for your reply and these details. I am familiar with Kent D. Miller's book, but Marinelli and Prentis' book is more detailed, from what I have been told, with more information about each mission.



Best regards,
Frederic

[KM1957]

What exactly are you hoping to find? The 363rd flew the patrol missions as stated above, all were uneventful with no guns fired and no bombs dropped, only other details included in the records are for weather conditions, any flak seen and a few observations of ships. I didn't think those were needed for my book but maybe some folks would have liked to have seen them. Can't imagine what the other book would have besides the scant mission details contained in the 363rd mission reports.

Kent

[Henofred]

Hi Kent,

Thank you for your reply. As I wrote previously, that is what I was told, because I have never seen any excerpts from this book written by these authors. I have since had my answer per E-mail, thanks to you. On August 4 and 5, this Fighter Group is outside the scope of my research.

Best regards,
Frederic