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It appears that frame 3 was pretty successful. The 23rd and 4th were able to hold down the damage on the homefront. The enemy was able to close L26 and TAC43, but it appears that those were the only ground assets that we lost. Way to go, fellas!
The 352nd did a great job escorting the bombers to L56 and L55. There weren't as many enemy fighters this time, but they were pretty accurate. We saw several 109s and 190s buzz through the bomber box. The bombers dropped on L56 and we saw the close register in the buffer, but when they dropped on L55, there was no indication that it was closed. A flurry of communications went out on TS and in the buffer. Finally, JABO confirmed what several had checked through cmeye that L55 was closed.
Right before the drop on L55, the bomber group initiated Plan A. They would be heading North to L69, instead of South and home.
The Night Stalkers had earlier confirmed that all 6 radars along the North coast were down. Those guys are amazing at what they do. Once they rearmed, they were now set free to seek and destroy as many ships as possible in the North Sea. Their AAR states that they knocked out at least 8 of them.
Reports from the 23rd and 4th were pouring in showing kill after kill. They were taking down bombers and fighters as they attacked our ground assets.
As the bombers and their 352nd escorts approached L69, target assignments were doled out and they started lining up to wipe it out. "Bombs away" was heard over the TS channel. Before the bombs hit, the bomber group was banking around to form up and head home. Again, there was no confirmation of the closure in the buffer, but reports showed that all targets were down. JABO confirmed that it was ruled closed.
While the bombers egressed, most of the fighters broke off and headed south for more action. Only WLDBIL, who was embedded with the 352nd, remained after he requested permission to leave, too. His request was denied and he followed the bombers over the water. Thankfully, he was there, because three more 190s arrived and tried to tear through us again. We lost a bomber on the way home.
We lost a few fighters and a few bombers, but I believe we had a net gain for the night.
Congratulations to the 23rd, 4th, 352nd, Night Stalkers, Nomads, and Doolittle's Raiders for successfully executing the missions for the night.
Thanks to JABO and company for setting up the frame for us.
Darryl <S>
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Darryl
