LONDON, June 8, 1944 (UP) - Allied air forces, outnumbering the luftwaffe 200 to 1, maintained a constant cloud of 2,000 fighters over Allied invasion troops Wednesday and early Thursday were nearing another 24-hour record of 13,000 sorties.
From dawn to midnight they had flown 10,000 sorties. By daybreak Thursday it was estimated that the record 13,000 sorties established from sun up Tuesday to sun up Wednesday will have been equaled or surpassed.
Setting records beyond the dreams of many military men, the Allied air forces were approaching a sortie total of 33,000 since midnight Monday, a sortie being a flight by a single plane.
The luftwaffe stiffened its resistance Wednesday and at least 24 enemy planes were shot down, bringing a two-day bag to 66, but over-shadowed by the Allied air fleets, not one enemy plane succeeded in strafing Allied troops on landing beaches.
From 10,000 daylight sorties, 35 Allied planes were missing - 23 British and 12 U.S. Ninth Air force fighter bombers - according to first announcements.
Constantly, every hour and every minute throughout Wednesday, 2,000 Allied aircraft were over a 60-mile square area between Cherbourg and Le Havre protecting Allied invasion forces.
Wherever the luftwaffe reared its head, it was smitten by patrolling fighters. Two waves of 12 Junkers and 88 bombers each attempted to approach the invasion beaches. Vigilant Allied fighters destroyed 16 and damaged four.
Fighters on offensive patrol encountered enemy planes in a few regions. They destroyed four and damaged five.
Meanwhile, Allied airmen controlled the skies over highways, railways, beaches and ocean approaches. German troops have been unable to make a single move without observation from spying British and American reconnaissance planes.
During darkness, nearly 1,100 R.A.F. Halifaxes and Liberators attacked communications behind the invasion areas, including the rail junction of Chatteaudun, with the loss of 13 planes.
During Wednesday, the U.S. 9th Air Force announced its first troop carrier assignment was completed 33 hours after H-hour. It was officially called history's biggest airborne operation, exceeding the German landing on Crete and that of the Allies on Sicily.
During the day, up to 500 U.S. 8th Air Force Flying Fortresses and Liberators roamed the area in front of Allied troops without fighter or flak opposition, unloading 1,500 tons of bombs on road intersections south of Caen.
Five Junkers 52-troop-carrying planes were shot down by Canadian Mosquitos during intruder operations.
Supreme headquarters communiqu