Dailies of the 323rd - the 91st Bomb Group!

another day, and made ready to attend ground school.
Pay Formation was held at 1400 hours.
T/Sgt. Roy J. Schleich, Jr. Destroyed one FW-190 on March 2,
1944. He was flying as waist gunner on Ship #774.
S/Sgt. Merritt Hetager destroyed one FW-109 on 29 March 1944. He
was flying as Ball Turret gunner on Ship #075.
S/Sgt. Christopher A. Belmonte damaged one FW-190 on 29 March
1944. He was flying as Tail Gunner on Ship #513.
In the past the tour of operational duty for combat crew members
has been twenty-five operational sorties over enemy territory.
Recently, this policy has been changed so that an individual must
complete at least thirty. He is then given a period of rest and
may then be reassigned to do more missions. The idea is to
utilize services of trained men more efficiently. At the time
this policy went into effect, there was a period of readjustment
during which each individual was informed of the change and
reconciled to the new set-up. In this squadron, the reaction to
this new policy was quite favorable, there being no noticeable
set-back in moral of the men concerned.
T/Sgt. Henry W. Streets, a tail gunners, has successfully
completed thirty four operation sorties. He is considered an
efficient Tail Gunner, and an excellent observer. During the
month, he flew as such with other squadrons in this group, as
well as his own. His case is an instance of the value of a
trained and experienced individual who is doing more than the
formerly required twenty-five missions.
During the month it will be noted that there was an increase in
the number of missions flown. In fact, a record was set for the
squadron. Sixteen missions were flown this month. During the
month of January, 1944, 441 airplane operational hours; flown;
February 1944, 579 airplane operational hours flown and during
March, 1944, 786 airplane operational hours flown. So it can be
seen that there has been quite an increase of operational
activity. During this period, the number of training hours in the
air have decreased, since the crews have been engaged in flying
assigned missions.
One ship ditched during the month. Five men lost. One ship crash
landed and was a total loss but no personnel were lost. The ship
and its crew is also listed as missing in action. Also, two ships
and their crews were lost over Berlin in the raid of 6 March,
1944. From this it can be seen that our losses are small in
comparison with the results attained during the month.
Ground school was well attended, considering that crews have been