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

Trainer for an hour each, and three ships made local cross
country flights. At the mess halls, all personnel were served
with a nice turkey dinner.
2 Jan. 1944: Next day, three ships did local formation flying as
a training project. This is often the case in order to give
experience to pilots who are expected to get adjusted to flying
together in formation. There was nothing done in the way of
ground school training.
3 Jan. 1944: January 3, 1944 was a busy day. All the Synthetic
Trainers were in full operation. Link, Shadowgraph, Spotlight and
Gee trainers were all taken up. Ass't radio operators had their
check. Aircraft recognition class was held, and radio operators
had code practice. With them, this is necessary. An assistant
radio operator is not often called upon to take over as a radio
operator unless in case of emergency. Such instances very seldom
occur in this squadron, but it is felt that there should be a
capable assistant on the ship at all times during an operational mission.
4 Jan. 1944: After an interval of four days in operational
missions, eight of our ships participated in a mission to Kiel,
Germany. Ships 815, 939, 372, 774, 761, 746, 172 and 759 flown by
Capt. Warrington B. Dalton, Jr., 2/Lt. Roman V. Maziarz, 1/Lt.
Charles H. Samuelson, 2/Lt. Kenneth Sutherland, 1/Lt. Kenneth T.
McFarland, Jr., 2/Lt. Frank R. Kolts, 2/Lt. Douglas C. Harding,
2/Lt. Doyle E. Bradford, and their crews, respectively, went over
the target and dropped their bombs and returned to this base.
They had a good escort of American fighters, which seemed to have
kept the enemy fighters from giving our ships any trouble. The
flak was moderately heavy but inflicted little damage to our
planes. Our ground crews soon made them ready for another mission
the next day. Such events tend to raise morale among all the men
both ground and air echelons. While no enemy planes were shot
down by our gunners, the primary purpose of the mission was
accomplished. We dropped our bombs on the target and returned
safely without loss of ships or personnel. Flying personnel, who
did not participate in today's mission, took training on the
ground. The basic policy is to stress training so as to enable
each individual to be occupied in developing his ability to the
highest degree as well as building morale. A man on the ground
doing nothing while his comrades are in the air slugging it out
with the enemy is far from happy. He should have something to
occupy his mind until the ships come home.
5 Jan. 1944: Again, eight ships took off. This time the target
was Tours, France. Nine were scheduled but Ship #372 did not
succeed in taking off due to mechanical failure. Ships # 774,