Date: 27 May 1944

MISSION #26

BASE: Castelluccio dei Sauri

TARGET: Salon De Provence, France--JU-88 Aerodrome

SHIP: Jesse James …808

ESCORT: Thirty P-38’s, twenty P-47’s, ten P-51’s

BOMBS: 10 x 500 lb. General Purpose from 22,000 feet

ENEMY AIRCRAFT: Four ME-109’s sighted in target area.

FLAK: Intense Volume, Very Accurate Aim, Heavy Caliber

RESULT: Direct hits on hangars. Main taxiway on the east side was hit by a string. A canal, railroad tracks and a highway north of target were hit. An administration building was also hit. 

SORTIES: 1 Total: 35

MISSION TIME: 8:30 Total: 173:15

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NARRATIVE: This mission to France was different than the previous one. This time extremely accurate, heavy flak greeted the group at landfall on the French Coast.  Flak flew at us and put holes in our ship. JESSE JAMES was hit on the bomb bay door and in between No. 1 and No. 2 engines. Not anything to worry about. This time the target was the airdrome at Salon de Provence. A nest of JU-88 aircraft there had been raiding shipping in the Mediterranean. We hit their airfield hard.