Tour of missions

[Horst Weber]

How many missions were one tour of a 9th AF B-26 pilot in December 1944 ?

Thank you !

Horst Weber

[Laurent Rizzotti]

According to this document: http://www.afhra.af.mil/shared/media...080424-048.pdf

From spring 1944, the official policy of the USAAF was that there will be no more fixed tour, but that crews will be sent home when they will be "war weary". Application of this rule depended from the theater and the unit. The idea was to have as much crew as possible to support (among other) the invasion of Europe.

In September 1944, with the casualty rate falling in the last months, many air forces had far enough crews, sometimes more than their authorized complement, and the rule changed: "when the theater commander determined that a crewman had completed a combat tour and a replacement was available in the theater, the man should be sent back to the states."

The same document says: "Between November 1944 and May 1945 bomber crews of 9th Air Force averaged 65 missions."

[John Beaman]

Shades of "Catch 22"!

[Horst Weber]

Originally Posted by John Beaman

Shades of "Catch 22"!

Laurent & John !

Thank you for your response !

Horst Weber

[Tony Kambic]

We had some interesting discussion Friday at Udvar-Hazy as all the parts of the 9th AF 322nd BG B-26 "Flak Bait" are now in the new restoration hangar and work is starting on the preservation to re-assemble the aircraft and display it on the main floor of the museum.

The original crew lead by pilot Lt James Farrell named the aircraft, but after they completed their tour ( I don't know how any missions), then other crews used the bomber which eventually flew 202 bombing missions. The curator indicated that research is continuing to learn how many different crews did fly this Marauder.

Tony