Mission No. Four – August 7, 1944
Liberation of Paris, August 26, 1944
Part of Operation Overlord, the code name for the Battle of Normandy, the liberation of Paris was the culmination of the battle that began on June 6, 1944 (D-Day). Dad’s missions on August 1, August 7, August 8 and August 13 were clearly in support of these operations. This photo shows crowds of Parisians lining the Champs Elysees to view General Leclerc’s 2nd Armored Division as it passed through the Arc du Triomphe on August 26, 1944. This image was taken by Jack Downey, U.S. Office of War Information, is available through the Library of Congress and is public domain. For more information on the Liberation of Paris and this photo: click here
Target: Paris – Fuel Storage Depot
Bomb Load: 18-300# Demo.
Gas Load: 2000 gallons
Briefing: 0500
Plane: A7170 – Julie Mae
Position: #2, #1 Element, Lead Sqdn., 41st “B” Gp.
T.O.: 0927 Land: 1458 Time: 5 hours, 31 minutes
Left Base: 1014 @ 5000′
Bombs Away: 1305; 25000′; -30 degrees C.
Distance: 922 SM
Remarks: Take-off was delayed two hours because of a heavy ground fog. Heavy but inaccurate flak over target. Target at first covered with clouds. Prepared only for visual bombing. Circled over parts of Paris – asking for trouble – for twenty minutes until target was clear. Did not see Paris itself.
[Note: This was the 379th Bomb Group’s 184th mission.]
James E. Rung, B-17 Navigator 
Jim Buchholz
April 21, 2017 at 9:19 pm
Amazing, I was one day old. I only hope that new generations understand what they went through to preserve freedom. Thanks for this website, Thanks to your dad and all veterans for their sacrifices.