On page 105 of the book "Fighter Pilot" the memoirs of Gen. Olds (completed by his daughter and friend Ed Rasimus) he concludes the account of an escort mission on Oct 6 1944 in which 42 B-17s were lost. Olds' states they were from the 2nd bomb division. I found an article ( https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/III/AAF-III-18.html ) stating a B-17 "formation "...lost the high squadron from its last combat wing...." that may be the same action, but there's no number given. That's all I can find.
Can anyone provide the actual losses or any further information on this action? Also, I would be interested in thoughts on the book in general. Thanks.
Looking at the mission statistics for that date on the 8th Air Force Historical Society site the heaviest losses were from the 385th Bomb Group. The 385th Bomb Group Association have a website with mission summaries that also details the serial numbers of the aircraft lost on that date and the fate of their crews (59 KIA, 39 POW), and the July 1984 edition of the Association newsletter has further information on the raid on pages 7-9. The recollections of one of the participants tallies with Olds' account of B-17s being jumped by large numbers of Bf 109s and Fw 190s.