Sortie Credit/Double Sortie Credit/Credits to Go Home?

[Old MacDonald]

I'm confused about USAAF European/Mediterranean sortie credit rules and what was required for flyers to complete their combat tours. I've looked on this site and on the web in general but found no conclusive information.

In 8th AF, it appears 25 combat missions (25 credited sorties) was initially required, later 30, and perhaps even more later than that.

But I'm really confused about sortie credit and combat tour requirements. This has two components: 1) why did some targets (or missions) result in the airmen receiving credit for TWO sorties (at least in 15th AF), while other targets were worth only one sortie; and 2), what was required to complete a tour and go home.

For 15th, I've read in various places that 25 "missions" (presumably credited sorties), more than 25 missions, 300 combat mission hours, 250 combat mission hours, and a couple other similar counting mechanisms were used to calculate when a combat tour was finished.

I know from one 15th AF bomber airman's official sortie listing that from Feb to Aug 1944 he was credited with 37 missions, 50 sorties, and 250:00 combat hours. The following targets in his list were listed as double sortie credits:

• Bad Voslau, Austria
• Bucharest, Romania
• Fiume, Italy
• Friedrichshafen, Germany
• Linz, Austria
• Maybach, Germany
• Moosbierbaum, Austria
• Munich Germany
• Odertal, Germany
• Ploesti, Romania
• Steyr, Austria
• Szeged, Hungary

At first I thought it might be due to mission duration, but these missions were no longer than the others, and some single-credit missions were longer than any of the double-credit missions.

Based on this one man's mission/sortie/hours official log, I can guess that 15th during this period reequired either 250:00 combat hours or 50 combat sorties for the flyer to complete his combat tour and go home--but that's just a guess!

Can you shed any light on the 8th & 9th/12th/15th definitions of a combat sortie and requirements to finish a tour? Were bomber and fighter missions/sorties/hours counted differently?

Perplexed,

Ole' Mac

 

[EwenS]

Martin W Bowman in his "USAAF Handbook 1939-1945" had a section on the "Combat Tour".

Initially in 1942 it seems that there was no fixed tour length which had a bad effect on morale given a conservative 5% loss rate. So the Surgeon of the 8th AF, Col. Grow suggested 15 missions but nothing was done.

The Central Medical Establishment produced a study, "Morale in Air Crew Members, 8th Bomber Command", dated 9 March 1943 recommending establishment of a definite and fixed combat tour. Gen Ira Eaker, then CO of 8th AF directed that bomber crews should fly a tour of 25 combat missions and fighter pilots should complete 150 missions or 200 operational flying hours. All who completed that were to get the DFC with 75% being returned to the US ZOI with the others retained in theatre as instructors or staff assistants.

In Aug 1944, regardless of the fact that psychological breakdowns were closely related to the operational intensity of that time the combat tour in Britain was extended to 35 missions, on the basis that individual missions appeared less hazardous, something seemingly not borne out by the statistics from some groups. An oft quoted reason for this, at least so far as the RAF were concerned (tours there were also extended around this time IIRC), was that missions were of shorter duration as mainly they were in support of armies in the field, and shorter meant less time under fire which equalled safer!!

In 1944 the USAAF statisticians got to work to figure out a crewman in Britain had an 80% chance of surviving a tour (including those shot down and captured). Postwar analysis proved this to be incorrect. Lies, damned lies and statistics!!!!

BUT policies varied between theatres.

CBI - no fixed tour length
MTO - 50-60 missions for bomber crews. 300+ hours for fighter pilots.
Pacific - 500-600 hours for both Bomber & fighter pilots. But here many more hours could be spent, comparatively safely, flying over water to get to and from targets, which may have played a part. B-24 crews in 5th AF generally had tours lasting 12-14 months that included 42-58 missions over 400-850 combat hours. Survival rates were generally better than in the ETO - 80% for light bombers, 67% for mediums and 84% for heavies though to Jan 1945.

The author goes on to discuss flying fatigue, removal from flying, leaves & furloughs, losses, PoWs and non-combat losses.

Beyond this book I don't recall seeing anything discussing tour lengths over the years.

 

[Old MacDonald]

Hi Ewen

Perfect! I thought I had all of Roger's books (RIP, great man!), but not this one. I'll have to pick it up. Now that you've given me titles of specific reports, I may be able find them at Maxwell or NARA. Really appreciate your help.

Did Roger mention anything about "double sortie credit" for 15th AF bombers?

Ole' Mac

 

[EwenS]

Mac
Book I referred to was by Martin Bowman not Roger Freeman.

No mention of double sortie credits.

 

[Snautzer01]

I think it is very strange it is so hard to find original documents. As any army the usaaf had tons of regulations. And after all this has to do with combat strenght. I would have thought it therefor should be easy to gind. But no.

 

[Geoffrey Sinclair]

What was the unit of the man in question and the dates of the double operations? The list has 12 but 37 missions plus 12 is 49.

The 15th AF had effective, non effective sorties, non sorties, non sorties that crossed enemy lines and also pilot sorties which were all sorties that crossed enemy lines. Something like 128,554 effective, 21,758 non effective (both types) and 15,134 non sorties, on bomber and transport missions.

The 9th Air Force uses airborne, credit, and effective sorties,

A sortie is an aircraft airborne on a mission against the enemy (synonymous with terms 'aircraft dispatched", "aircraft airborne", and "aircraft taking off", previously used.

An aircraft credit sortie is deemed to have taken place when an airplane, ordered on an operational mission and In the performance of that mission, has entered an area where enemy anti-aircraft fire may be effective, or where usual enemy fighter patrols occur, or when the airplane is in any way subjected to entry attack. (Definition previously used for sortie to the ETO)

A non-effective sortie is a sortie which for any reason fails to carry out the purpose of the mission. (Synonymous with the term "abortive".)

Courage and Air Warfare by Mark K Wells has some information on tours, like most publications it concentrates on the heavy bombers of the 8th Air Force and Bomber Command.

Roger Freeman, Mighty Eighth War Diary has a note after the 27 July 1944 entry. The 25 mission tour introduced in early spring 1943, a year later the percentage loss had halved, in April 1944 came 30 missions with people already at 15 missions given a sliding scale with the closer they were to 25 already the fewer extra missions. Late May 1944 came the 35 mission limit while fighter tours were moved from 200 to 300 hours. In August came the Washington memo no hours or missions limits, clear signs of combat fatigue required. The 8th came up with mandatory medicals by no later than 35 bomber missions, 300 operational hours on fighters, 200 for photographic reconnaissance and 500 for weather reconnaissance.

For the obvious: Tour lengths varied between theatres and over time, usually measured in operational hours.

22 May 1945 the 15th AF Adjusted Service Ratings in points, critical score 85 points, which 21% of officers and 24% of enlisted men were above, fewer than 300 personnel had less than 25 points, in terms of overseas service 26.4% and 36.9% of enlisted men had been overseas 19 months or longer.

The 8th AF monthly reports at least have experience charts, remembering the air force continued to grow until June 1944. US archives Record Group 18 Entry 7 Box 5676 8th AF aircrew experience report Dec 43 May 45

21 December 1943 6 B-17 crew out of 12,599 had 26 or more sorties, 500 had 21 to 25 sorties, along with 60 out of 4,326 B-24 crew, no fighter crew had over 200 hours, 10 out of 932 P-47 had 181 to 200 hours.

30 April 1945, over 2,700 B-17 bomber crewmen had 31 to 35 missions, while 83 had 36 or more. The special 482nd BG had no one above 35 sorties. For B-24 1,158 men had 31 to 35 sorties, 24 had 36 or more, in the 482nd 11 crew with over 40 sorties, while the 492nd carpetbagger had 3 out of 232 men with 36 or more. The night leaflet unit topped out at 31 to 35 sorties. For the fighters 65 out of 1,586 and 2 out of 137 P-47 crew had 301 or more hours. F-5 topped out at 200 hours, the Mosquito at 240 hours plus 1 at 281 to 300 hours, the A-26 carpetbagger and specials had 2 out of 16 crew with 281 to 300 hours, RCM B-24 8 out of 219 had 241 to 350 hours, B-17 RCM 62 out of 158 had 241 to over 350 hours. The relatively new ASR units P-47 1 had 151 to 200 hours, OA-10 every one was under 100 hours, as were the B-17. P-51 scout force 8 out of 71 had 201 or more hours, B-17 weather reconnaissance had 6 out of 64 with 101 to 150 hours. The H2X and GH operators have their own table, including those kept as trainers, as there was a lack of such personnel for a time.

The 15th AF monthly reports have charts, it had new units arriving until April 1944. As of 1 July of 355 B-17 crews, 242 had 34 or fewer missions, 31 had 35-39, 30 had 40-44, 27 had 45-49, 25 had 50-54 missions. The 905 B-24 crews, 657 had 34 or fewer missions, 109 had 35-39, 78 had 40-44, 54 had 45-49, 7 had 50-54 missions. P-38 369 crews, 246 had up to 34 missions, the rest up to 59 missions. 116 P-47 crews, 68 had 34 or fewer missions, and 9 had 65 or more. 302 P-51 crews 203 had 34 of fewer missions, while 41 had 65 and over.

As of 1 September 1944 B-17 average number of missions before rotation 37.2, B-24 35.2, P-38 49.0, P-51 45.0, on 30 September the numbers became 35.4, 35.6, 37.1, 53.7, on 30 November 33.8, 36.5, 53.9, 57.3.

The monthly reports tend to shift data formats. Number of 15th Air Force crews with 35 and over missions, monthly August 1944 to April 1945,
B-17 6, 3, 2, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0,
B-24 123, 35, 38, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0,

Crews with 50 and over missions There were 33 to 50% more P-51 pilots than P-38.
P-38 15, 19, 16, 14, 22, 7, 8, 12, 14,
P-51 68, 80, 31, 75, 62, 52, 61, 58, 70.

 

[GregP]

Source for these numbers?

No a question of your numbers ... looking for good sources!

 

[Geoffrey Sinclair]

8th AF as noted. 15th AF Mostly US Archives Record Group 18 Entry 7 Box 5924.

 

[eagledad]

Old Mac

My late uncle flew as a ball turret gunner on a B-17 of the 816 Bomb Squadron, 483rd Bomb Group from Aug 19, 1944 (first mission) to Nov 4 1944 (end of tour). During that time he was credited with 51 missions and 238 hours and 35 minutes total flight time which included 9 hours and 50 minutes of flight time for 2 non-credit flights He received double credit for missions for flights to:

Target Note Date Time
Country

Oswiecm 8/20/44 flight time 7 hours 55 minutes
Poland
Odertal 8/24(22)/44 flight time 7 hours 50 minutes
Germany
Weiner Neudorf 8/23/44 flight time 6 hours 30 minutes
Austria
Blecheimer (4 flights) 8/27/44 flight time 7 hours 25 minutes
Germany 9/13/44 flight time 7 hours 40 minutes
10/14/44 flight time 8 hours 20 minutes
10/17/44 flight time 8 hours 30 minutes
Moosbierbaum 8/28/44 flight time 7 hours 30 minutes
Austria
Privoser Oil Refinery 8/29/44 flight time 8 hours 05 minutes
Moravska Ostra, Czechoslovakia
Schwechat 9/10/44 flight time 7 hours 10 minutes
Austria
Lechfeld 9/12/44 flight time 7 hours 10 minutes
Germany
Munich 9/22/44 flight time 7 hours 20 minutes
Germany
Brux (2 flights) 9/23/44 flight time 8 hours 50 minutes
Germany 10/20/44 flight time 8 hours 45 minutes
Loban(u) 10/07/44 flight time 7 hours 25 minutes
Austria
Florisdorf 10/13/44 flight time 7 hours 20 minutes
Vienna, Austria
Skoda Wrks (2 flights) 10/16/44 flight time 8 hours 00 minutes
Pilsen, Czechoslovakia 10/23/44 flight time 8 hours 50 minutes
Regensburg 11/04/44 flight time 7 hours 45 minutes
Germany

My uncle's first mission was to Ploesti (flight time 8 hours 25 minutes and the last 15 AF mission to that target) and he did not receive double credit for that trip. Most of my uncle's missions double credit missions were to oil refineries. He was rotated home his mission to Regensburg.
Luck of the draw
On the missions my uncle participated in, his squadron lost only 1 plane. Ironically, it was the B-17 that my uncle and his crew flew to Italy from the US (44-6390, B-17G-50DL), but was crewed by a different crew on that fateful day.

FYI
Eagledad

Sources: Individual Record Combat Member Operational Time and Missions.
Fifteenth Air Force Story by Kenn C, Rust
( for date correction and town locations from some missions)

 

[Tom Graham]

I'm confused about USAAF European/Mediterranean sortie credit rules and what was required for flyers to complete their combat tours. I've looked on this site and on the web in general but found no conclusive information.

In 8th AF, it appears 25 combat missions (25 credited sorties) was initially required, later 30, and perhaps even more later than that.

But I'm really confused about sortie credit and combat tour requirements. This has two components: 1) why did some targets (or missions) result in the airmen receiving credit for TWO sorties (at least in 15th AF), while other targets were worth only one sortie; and 2), what was required to complete a tour and go home.

For 15th, I've read in various places that 25 "missions" (presumably credited sorties), more than 25 missions, 300 combat mission hours, 250 combat mission hours, and a couple other similar counting mechanisms were used to calculate when a combat tour was finished.

I know from one 15th AF bomber airman's official sortie listing that from Feb to Aug 1944 he was credited with 37 missions, 50 sorties, and 250:00 combat hours. The following targets in his list were listed as double sortie credits:

• Bad Voslau, Austria
• Bucharest, Romania
• Fiume, Italy
• Friedrichshafen, Germany
• Linz, Austria
• Maybach, Germany
• Moosbierbaum, Austria
• Munich Germany
• Odertal, Germany
• Ploesti, Romania
• Steyr, Austria
• Szeged, Hungary

At first I thought it might be due to mission duration, but these missions were no longer than the others, and some single-credit missions were longer than any of the double-credit missions.

Based on this one man's mission/sortie/hours official log, I can guess that 15th during this period reequired either 250:00 combat hours or 50 combat sorties for the flyer to complete his combat tour and go home--but that's just a guess!

Can you shed any light on the 8th & 9th/12th/15th definitions of a combat sortie and requirements to finish a tour? Were bomber and fighter missions/sorties/hours counted differently?

Perplexed,

Ole' Mac

This mentions some of the different approaches.

https://www.afhra.af.mil/Portals/16/documents/Timelines/USAF%20Rotation%20Policies/AFD-080424-048.pdf?ver=2016-08-30-151431-133

 

[Geoffrey Sinclair]

Putting the above mission list into date order. 15th AF report

G/D Ground Defences, 3 letter code
1st Letter Type E = ?, H = Heavy, L = Light?, S =?
2nd Letter Intensity, I = Intense, M = Moderate, S =Slight/Scant
3rd Letter Accuracy, A = accurate, I = inaccurate, F =?

A/Ieng = aero engine plant
A/F = all airfields, seaplane bases, airdromes, landing stripes, etc.
Armaments = artillery, machine guns, small arms, and associated production
I/A = Industrial Area, industrial section of city or town
M/Y = marshalling yard
O/R = oil refinery
O/St = oil storage
O/Ben = synthetic oil (benzine)
O/Sy = synthetic oil (Fischer-Tropsch or Bergius)

Cn	City	Date	hrs	Target Type	Sight	Eff	Neff	Non	Dest	Miss	Damage	Cause	G/D	Altit.	Wea.	Escort	H.E.	I.B.	Jettison	Note
Po	Oswiecim/I.G. Farben	20-Aug-44	1050	O/R	Visual	26	0	2	0	0	0	n/a	H-I-I	29500	2/10th	P-51	49.8	-	4.3	Claims for 1-1-1 Bf109
Ge	Odertal (Deschowitz)	22-Aug-44	1140	O/Sy	Visual	26	1	1	0	0	0	n/a	H-I-I	27500	2/10th	P-38/51	63.9	-	3.6
Au	Wiener Neudorf	23-Aug-44	1246	A/Ieng	Visual	24	0	4	0	0	0	n/a	H-S-I	26500	5/10th	P-38/51	-	70.5	10.5
Ge	Blechhammer/N (I.G. Farben)	27-Aug-44	1152	O/Sy	Visual	28	0	0	0	0	3	Flak	H-I-A	28500	CAVU	P-38/51	55.0	-	1.0
Au	Vienna/Moosbierbaum	28-Aug-44	1110	O/Ben	Visual	25	2	1	0	1	0	Other	H-M-A	28500	CAVU	P-51	47.0	-	7.0
Au	Vienna/Moosbierbaum	28-Aug-44	1110	O/Ben	Visual	-	-	-	-	-	2	Flak	H-M-A	-	-	-	-	-	-
Cz	Bohumin	29-Aug-44	1100	O/R	H2X	26	0	2	0	0	0	n/a	H-S-I	27500	Poor	P-51	63.1	-	-
Au	Vienna/Schwechat	10-Sep-44	1036	O/Ben	Visual	24	1	3	1	0	17	Flak	H-I-A	25000	7/10th	P-38/51	71.0	-	7.0
Ge	Munich/Lechfeld	12-Sep-44	1336	A/F	Visual	26		2	0	0	3	Flak	H-M-I	22000	2/10th	P-38/51	71.5	-	3.0
Ge	Blechhammer/N (I.G. Farben)	13-Sep-44	1118	O/Sy	H2X	23	1	4	1	1	7	Flak	H-I-A	28500	4/10th	P-38/51	45.0	-	7.0
Cz	Munich	22-Sep-44	n/a	I/A	H2X	22	4	2	0	0	0	n/a	H-I-A	27700	Poor	P-38/51	63.0	-	18.0	Area attack, ordered or authorized
Ge	Brux	23-Sep-44	1220	O/Sy	H2X	21	0	4	0	0	2	Flak	H-I-A	25500	Poor	P-38/51	60.5	-	8.5
Hu	Nove Zamky/Ersekujvar	07-Oct-44	1416	M/Y	Visual	14	0	1	0	0	0	n/a	Nil	21000	Clear	P-51	41.0	-	-
n/a	Unknown	07-Oct-44	n/a	n/a	Visual	6	-	-	-	-	-	n/a	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Secret Mission
Au	Vienna/Lobau	07-Oct-44	1344	O/R	Visual	22	0	2	1	0	7	Flak	H-I-A	27000	Clear	P-38/51	59.0	-	10.0
Ge	Blechhammer/S (I.G. Farben)	13-Oct-44	1045	O/Sy	H2X	22	0	2	0	0	2	Flak	H-I-A	28500	2/10th	P-38/51	51.3	-	8.3
Au	Vienna/Florisdorf	13-Oct-44	1127	O/R	H2X	17	1	0	0	1	0	Flak	H-I-A	25000	10/10th	P-38	31.8	-	4.8
Ge	Blechhammer/N (I.G. Farben)	14-Oct-44	1156	O/Sy	H2X	34	1	1	0	0	3	Flak	H-I-I	30000	8/10th	P-38/51	79.3	-	8.0
Cz	Pilsen/Skoda	16-Oct-44	1150	Armaments	H2X	32	3	1	0	0	1	Flak	H-I-A	29000	10/10th		53.0	-	15.0
Ge	Blechhammer/S (I.G. Farben)	17-Oct-44	1159	O/Sy	H2X	26	1	2	1	0	0	Other	H-I-I	27000	10/10th	P-51	75.8	-	5.3
Cz	Brux	20-Oct-44	1325	O/Sy	H2X	30	1	4	0	1	5	Flak	H-I-A	29500	10/10th	P-38/51	68.0	-	14.5
Cz	Pilsen/Skoda	20-Oct-44	n/a	Armaments	Visual	1	-	-	0	-	-	n/a	-	-	-	-	2.5	-	-
Cz	Pilsen/Skoda	23-Oct-44	1245	Armaments	H2X	32	2	2	0	1	0	Unknown	Nil	26400	10/10th	P-51	-	60.0	4.6	Area attack
Cz	Pilsen/Skoda	23-Oct-44	1245	Armaments	H2X	-	-	-	-	-	25	Flak	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	hand written addition to report
Ge	Regensburg/Winterhafen	04-Nov-44	1204	O/St	H2X	33	2	1	0	0	0	n/a	Nil	n/a	9-10/10th	n/a	79.9		n/a

No obvious pattern beyond oil and intense ground defences.

 

[Old MacDonald]

Great info from all; still hoping to find definition of what constituted a double-credit mission.

 

[Geoffrey Sinclair]

Great info from all; still hoping to find definition of what constituted a double-credit mission.

At least some of the definition included bombing targets the 8th AF could reach, to compensate for 8th AF tours of 25 rising to 35 missions, against the 15th AF 50 missions. After that comes difficulty and the way targets would be added and removed from the list, Ploesti was removed before the final missions there were done. Posting the units involved and the dates of your original mission list may provide further clues.

HISTORIAN’S CORNER - Issuu

In November 1943 the 15th AF was activated with a strength of 90 B-24 Liberators and 210 B-17 Flying Fortresses inherited from the Twelfth Air Force and Ninth Air Force. By May 1, 1944, the 15th Air Force contained 21 heavy-bombardment groups organized into five wings. Four of the wings were...

issuu.com

https://www.jstor.org/stable/26272264

Official Home of the 450th Bomb Group Memorial Association

Check with Air Force Historical Research Agency to see if they have copies of the double credit target lists.

 

[Old MacDonald]

Sorry about the delay; put the mission list someplace "special" where I would be sure to find it again...which I have, and it only took me a week to find it again!

 

[Geoffrey Sinclair]

8 February 1944 was the 454th BG first mission, unit having arrived on 22 January.

Obvious anomalies

25 February strike was meant for Graz-Large in Austria, time in air indicates they crossed the Alps, double mission
23 May strike, no bombs dropped but mission credited.
30 June Odertal strike, no bombs dropped but mission credited, where they turned back is probably an issue for double status.
Ploesti on 5 May was a double mission, but not on 15 July.

Cn	City	Date	hrs	Target Type	Sight	Eff	Neff	Non	Dest	Miss	Damg	Cause	G/D	Altit.	Wea.	Escort	H.E.	I.B.	Frag	Jett	Notes
It	Orvietto	8/02/1944​	1225	A/F	Vis	40	-	-	0	0	0	n/a	Nil	11000	Fair	P-47	100.0	-	-	-
It	Arezzo	14/02/1944​	940	M/Y	Vis	35	-	-	1	0	0	n/a	Nil	20500	-	-	83.3	-	-	-
Yu	Sibenik	22/02/1944​	1315	P/A	Vis	19	12	3	0	0	0	n/a	H-S-I	21000	I	-	47.5	-	-	7.5	Ordered City strike
It	Fiume	25/02/1944​	1354	RR	Vis	18	-	-	0	0	0	n/a	H-L-I	n/a	CAVU	-	45.0	-	-	-	Primary target Graz-Large.
It	Canino	3/03/1944​	-	A/F	Vis	18	7	3	1	0	0	E/A	nil	19500	Int.	P-47	-	-	20.8	0.2	Claims 2-1-0 Fw190, 1-0-0 Bf109
It	Cassino	15/03/1944​	952	T/T	Vis	24	7	-	0	0	0	n/a	H-M-I	15000	Overcast forming	P-38	72.0	-	-	-	Cirrus overcast forming, escort over target only
It	Maniago	18/03/1944​	1107	A/F	Vis	25	1	6	0	0	0	n/a	nil	22000	CAVU	nil	-	-	28.3	-
Bu	Dragoman	30/03/1944​	-	City	Vis	1	-	-	0	0	0	n/a	n/a	n/a	-	-	2.5	-	-	-	T/O, primary Sofia
Bu	Kneju	30/03/1944​	-	City	Vis	5	-	-	0	0	0	n/a	n/a	n/a	-	-	12.5	-	-	-	Opportunity city strike, primary Sofia, NRO
Bu	Misc., Bu	30/03/1944​	-	T/O	Vis	1	-	-	0	0	0	n/a	n/a	n/a	-	-	2.5	-	-	-	T/O, primary Sofia, unspecified target
Bu	Sofia	30/03/1944​	1109	City	Vis	22	-	-	1	0	11	Flak	H-M-A	n/a	Good	P-38	55.0	-	-	-	Ordered City strike but T/O
Au	Steyr/Diamler-Puch	2/04/1944​	1217	A/Ieng	Vis	28	-	7	0	0	0	n/a	H-I-A	21000	Good	P-38/47	70.0	-	-	-	Claims 2-1-0 Bf109, 3-1-0 Bf110, 1-0-0 Ju88
It	Bologna	7/04/1944​	-	M/Y	Vis	29	3	1	0	0	0	n/a	H-S-I	21900	CAVU	P-38	46.3	-	-	2.5
Ru	Turnu Severin	16/04/1944​	1046	M/Y	Vis	26	-	4	0	0	0	n/a	Nil	20600	CAVU	P-38	65.0	-	-	-
Ru	Bucharest	21/04/1944​	1225	M/Y	H2X	31	3	1	0	2	1	E/A	H-I-I	23600	Poor	P-38	77.3	-	-	2.8
Ru	Bucharest	21/04/1944​	1225	M/Y	H2X	0	-	-	0	0	10	Flak	H-I-I	23600	Poor	P-38	-	-	-	-
Au	Bad Voslau	23/04/1944​	1416	A/Iasy	Vis	23	2	9	0	0	8	Flak	H-I-I	21500	CAVU	P-38	57.5	-	-	2.5
It	Airasca- 10 miles S of	25/04/1944​	-	T/O	Vis	1	-	-	0	0	0	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	-	2.5	-	-	-	Primary target Turin
It	Turin/Aeritalia	25/04/1944​	1310	A/I	Vis	30	5	2	1	0	0	Other	H-M-A	21000	I	P-38/47	75.0	-	-	12.5
It	Turin/Aeritalia	25/04/1944​	1310	A/I	Vis	0	-	-	0	0	11	Flak	H-M-A	21000	I	P-38/47	-	-	-	-
Fr	Toulon	29/04/1944​	1150	P/A	Vis	26	-	4	0	1	0	Flak	H-I-A	23000	Good	P-38/51	75.0	-	-	8.0
It	Milan/Lambrate	30/04/1944​	1204	M/Y	Vis	31	-	1	0	0	1	E/A	H-M-I	16600	Good	P-38/51	77.0	-	-	-	Claim 1-0-0 Bf109
Ru	Ploesti	5/05/1944​	1413	M/Y	H2X	36	-	5	0	0	2	Flak	H-I-A	23000	Poor	P-38/51	87.0	-	-	0.5
Ru	Ploesti	5/05/1944​	1413	M/Y	H2X	0	-	-	0	0	1	E/A	H-I-A	23000	Poor	P-38/51	-	-	-	-
It	Lake Nemi Area	23/05/1944​	1000	T/T	Vis	0	42	-	0	0	0	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	-	-	-	-	-
It	Piacenza/San Damiano	25/05/1944​	1000	A/F	Vis	37	-	2	0	0	2	Flak	n/a	20000	n/a	P-38	-	-	48.2	3.1	Claims 1-0-2 Bf109
Yu	Bos Novi	29/05/1944​	919	T/T	Vis	32	1	-	0	0	0	n/a	Nil	14600	CAVU	-	53.3	-	-	10.6	City strike requested by partisans
Yu	Knin	29/05/1944​	1354	T/T	Vis	30	-	1	0	0	0	n/a	Nil	15600	CAVU	P-38	45.7	-	-	9.9	City strike requested by partisans
Hu	Szeged/South	2/06/1944​	1002	M/Y	Vis	34	-	1	0	0	1	Flak	H-S-I	17800	Poor	-	82.8	-	-	-
It	Genoa/Sampierdarena	4/06/1944​	1033	M/Y	Vis	36	1	1	2	0	4	Flak	H-I-A	17700	Good	P-38	90.0	-	-	2.5
It	Leghorn	7/06/1944​	-	P/A	Vis	2	-	-	0	0	0	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	P-38	6.0	-	-	-	Primary target Voltri
It	Voltri	7/06/1944​	-	P/A	Vis	29	6	3	0	0	1	Flak	H-S-I	20800	I	-	83.5	-	-	25.5
It	Ferrara	10/06/1944​	1024	A/F	Vis	34	4	1	0	0	4	Flak	H-M-A	19500	Overcast	P-51	-	-	67.3	19.3
Ge	Munich/BMW	13/06/1944​	1020	A/Ieng	Vis	36	2	2	0	0	24	Flak	H-I-A	22000	2/10th	P-51	-	69.9	-	6.7	Claims 1-0-0 Bf109, 1-0-0 Fw190
Ru	Craiova	24/06/1944​	940	RR/Shops	Vis	35	5	2	0	0	1	E/A	Nil	22000	I	P-38	85.5	-	-	17.5
Au	Vienna/Moosbierbaum	26/06/1944​	942	O/Ben	Vis	35	5	3	1	2	13	E/A	H-M-A	21600	CAVU	P-38/51	51.0	-	-	22.8	Claims 1-0-0 Ju88, 1-0-0 Re1001, 1-0-0 Me410, 0-1-0 Me210
Ge	Odertal	30/06/1944​	-	O/Sy	Vis	0	39	2	0	0	0	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	-	-	-	-	20.3	Returned due to weather
Ru	Bucharest/Titan	3/07/1944​	1209	O/R	Vis	34	1	2	0	0	0	n/a	H-I-I	22800	I	P-38/51	84.3	-	-	5.8
Cz	Dubnica	7/07/1944​	-	Armaments	Vis	20	-	-	0	0	0	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	-	48.8	-	-	-	Primary target Odertal
Ge	Ober Gloglau	7/07/1944​	-	City	Vis	1	-	-	0	0	0	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	-	2.5	-	-	-	Opportunity city strike Primary target Odertal
Ge	Odertal (Deschowitz)	7/07/1944​	1130	O/Sy	Vis	12	1	4	0	2	0	E/A	n/a	n/a	n/a	P-38	30.0	-	-	-	5 more kill claims? Claims 3-1-0 Bf109, 1-0-0 Ju88, 0-0-1 Fw190
Ge	Odertal (Deschowitz)	7/07/1944​	1130	O/Sy	Vis	0	-	-	0	2	0	Flak	n/a	n/a	n/a	-	-	-	-	-
It	Trieste/San Sabba	13/07/1944​	1100	O/R	Vis	30	-	-	0	0	0	n/a	H-S-I	18600	9/10th	P-38/51	73.3	-	-	1.0
Ru	Ploesti/Dacia Romano	15/07/1944​	1040	O/R	Vis	28	8	2	0	1	6	Flak	Nil	22000	9/10th	P-38/51	67.0	-	-	10.0
Ge	Friedrichshafen/Maybach	20/07/1944​	1047	AFV eng	Vis	30	1	3	1	1	15	Flak	H-I-A	22300	CAVU	P-51	71.5	-	-	11.0
Au	Linz/Hermann Goering	25/07/1944​	1115	AFV	Vis	28	2	3	1	0	22	Flak	H-I-A	21500	4/10th	P-38/51	83.0	-	-	12.0	Claims 6-3-5 Bf109, 1-0-0 Fw190
Au	Linz/Hermann Goering	25/07/1944​	1115	AFV	Vis	0	-	-	0	0	3	E/A	H-I-A	21500	4/10th	P-38/51	-	-	-	-
Fr	St. Rambert	6/08/1944​	1130	RR/Br	Vis	35	-	2	0	0	0	n/a	Nil	16200	Good	-	84.8	-	-	5.8
Fr	Sete	12/08/1944​	1055	Gun Emplacements	Vis	31	1	1	0	0	3	Flak	H-S-I	20500	CAVU	P-51	77.0	-	-	3.0

The Full List.

 

[Engineman]

This mentions some of the different approaches.

https://www.afhra.af.mil/Portals/16/documents/Timelines/USAF%20Rotation%20Policies/AFD-080424-048.pdf?ver=2016-08-30-151431-133

Thanks for posting. A very interesting read. What strikes me is how this issue seems to have been such a hot potato for the senior commanders to grasp. I know that many high-ranking commanders get into their positions by being single-minded, often having blitzed their way to the top regardless of the risks. It certainly seems that some felt that anyone wanting any sort of "contract" on their combat service were shirkers or cowards.
Well done all those Allied combat crews!

Eng

 

[Barrett]

EXCELLENT thread, gents. A keeper.

FWIW: in researching the 15th AF history I found that typically 50 credit missions = 35 takeoffs. Ploesti gets most of the ink, but to quote a late friend & B-17 gunner, "You really weren't in the 15th unless you'd been to Vienna and Weiner-Neustadt."