Chapter 10

Dawn of D-Day

When a signal came saying we only had 2½ miles to go our troops put their packs on and got under cover. My crew also got down and I closed the armour plate covers of my cockpit and opened the slots through which I could see all around me. You could hear bursts of machine-gun fire from the shore and the wicked snarl of bullets ricocheting in the sea and over our boats. Some were uncomfortably close. Occasionally a column of water would shoot up near us and then we would hear the sound of the gun that had fired the shell. Then Jerry started lobbing over mortar shells and putting them very close indeed-None of the chaps were laughing and joking then. Suddenly we were up to the outer defences. Engines flat out. The obstacles were built of heavy timber forming tripods, on top of which were Teller mines. It would have been just too bad if we had touched one of these. I felt the craft sticking on underwater obstacles and in a moment we were up against the inner beach defences and could go no further. I gave the order to ‘down ramp’, our armoured doors were opened and our troops began to disembark. Mortar shells were bursting on the beach, which they had to cross, and among our craft as Jerry had now got our range.

On the sand, just clear of the sea, were the bodies of soldiers who had landed a few minutes before. Many others were in the sea itself; slowly moving back and forth as the waves rushed in and retreated.

I watched our commandos as they slowly walked through the surf and up the beach. Some didn’t reach us. They would fall quietly on their faces and lie there in the water. I saw one spin about suddenly and sit down, his face covered in blood.

Some chaps would throw away their packs to drag their fallen comrades ashore. ‘I didn’t feel scared anymore – just numb as I wondered how much longer it would be before I got my “packet”. It’s a horrible feeling, the realization that death is about to strike you.’

Newfoundland-born landing craft coxswain Bill Mills from LSI(S) Prinses Astrid,

a converted Belgian cross-Channel passenger vessel with a capacity for

507 troops and eight landing craft, which arrived off Sword Beach at

05.42 on 6 June with The Highland Light Infantry on board

When Roland ‘Ginger’ Hammersley went to briefing at East Kirkby in the afternoon of Monday 5 June the only information he and the 57 Squadron crews received was that they would be attacking three enemy 170mm heavy gun positions at La Pernelle on the Cotentin Peninsula. Before the war young Roland had shared their three-bedroom council house, with its fair sized garden in Apsley End, with three brothers and a sister, Gladys. Their father had served in France in the First World War with the Royal Field Artillery. During the late 1930s Walter Alfred Hammersley was in and out of work plying his trade as a carpenter and joiner. In 1939 he re-mustered, enlisting in the Royal Corps of Military Police. His wife Elizabeth, who somehow had managed to keep the family well fed and clothed during the days prior to war, kept chickens and introduced rabbits to supplement the rations as the war dragged on. Walter, the eldest child, had joined the Royal Artillery and Leslie, who was two years younger than ‘Ginger’ Hammersley, had joined the Royal Marines. Leslie, who was with the 541 Landing Craft Assault Flotilla aboard HMS Empire Mace, had been in Southampton for some time and was involved in moving mail from the dockside around the dock to the many units as they moved into place during the build-up of the invasion forces. The Empire Mace had a civilian crew captained by a Captain Smith, who had run a ship through the blockade during the Spanish Civil War. At last the move for embarking on assault craft day was called. The D-Day invasion, postponed by 24 hours because of bad weather, finally began with thousands of ships and aircraft setting out for five beach landing areas on the Normandy coast. It was a miserable wet morning as men trundled into Southampton’s mean little dockside streets. It seemed that, despite all the secrecy, everyone knew what was going to happen. There seemed to be nothing but Redcaps keeping troops and public apart. The dockside was a mass of organized chaos as vehicles, soft-topped and hard, manoeuvred to board their respective craft.

Leslie’s landing craft was at the dockside and during a lull in the work he watched the flow of guns, tanks, lorries and troops with orders being shouted from all sides. Suddenly, amidst all the confusion, orderly as it was, alongside of his landing craft in a line of mobile field guns, came one with his brother, Sergeant Walter Hammersley, directing its movements. Leslie was hanging over the side of an assault craft. The brothers stared at one another with a look of instant recognition. It was only a brief meeting, their first since the summer of 1942. They had only a few moments in which to chat and then Walter was away and being loaded onto a LCT (Landing Craft Tank). Walter and Leslie eventually moved out to their positions in line with what seemed like thousands of other vessels as the weather slowly got worse and they set off for Normandy, Leslie in the Empire Mace, Walter in his LCT with its four assault guns chained down. They were to fire onto Gold beach over the heads of the 50th Tyne Tees Division in front of them. It was terrifying in its majesty, with the flotsam of war everywhere.

Overhead, massive aerial support was given before dawn to the Normandy landings as over 1,000 aircraft, including 551 Lancasters, bombed coastal batteries at 10 strong points along the fringes of Gold, Juno and Sword landing beaches. As part of the ‘cover’ plan, for every bomb dropped west of Le Havre, two were dropped on batteries to the north. Walter and Leslie’s brother ‘Ginger’, in the tiny WOp/AG position in O-Oboe, with its equally tiny side window to port, had little time to look out at the invasion fleet as the Lancaster flew over the English Channel towards the Cotentin Peninsula on this momentous day. O-Oboe, and 15 other Lancasters in 57 Squadron, had begun taking off from East Kirkby at 01.40 hours with a bomb load of eleven 1,000lb AN-M and four 500lb GP bombs. As the Lancasters were crossing the English Channel the young WOp/AG’s Fishpond was swamped with blips. It was apparent that there was either a huge flock of birds, thousands of aircraft or a vast fleet on the sea immediately below their Lancaster. Hammersley reported this to Ron Walker, his pilot, and the navigator. Walker banked the aircraft to port and starboard and they could see that the water below was covered in a huge fleet of vessels heading towards the French coast. Thousands of men poured across Gold beach where, Leslie Hammersley passed Walter and his gun. As the Royal Marine ran in towards the sandy shore, Walter told him that his unit was shelling the beaches and positions in front and that they were doing a good job too. At La Pernelle the Lancasters got their bombs away at around five minutes before 04.00 but the Cotentin Peninsula was cloud covered and they probably missed their target because at 05.25, guns from two of the batteries fired on Allied minesweepers. It was much the same story at Fontenay, Houlgate, Longues, Grand-champs-Maisy, Merville, Mont Fleury, Ouistreham and St-Martin-de-Varreville before the Lancasters headed for home. The 10 batteries each received on average 500 tons of bombs. After the first landings Leslie Hammersley went back and forth to Southampton taking supplies and troops to Gold and Omaha beach heads for about six days before being withdrawn for a refit to the landing craft.¹

Cloud interfered with the bombing all along the invasion coast and most of the Lancasters’ bomb loads, including those of about 100 Lancs that were detailed to ‘soften up’ the Merville battery with 4,000lb bombs, missed their targets completely. One exception was at Pointe du Hoc, as Wing Commander Rollo Kingsford-Smith recalls:

‘We took off at about 2am and had a leisurely flight down England to the south coast and across the Channel to the Normandy coast flying between 6 – 7,000 feet. There was low cloud most of the way but it started to break up as we approached France. I still did not know whether the Allied Forces would land. But about five miles out from the coast, when I could just discern the dark grey surface of the sea beneath in the early twilight, the fleet of invasion barges right below opened their throttles for the dash to the beach. It was too dark for me to see the boats but their increased speed made white wakes and these showed up clearly. I knew it was ‘on’. Some of the wakes were all over the place. There must have been a few collisions at that level. Undoubtedly it was the most thrilling and emotional experience for me in all the years of the war. Until that moment Bomber Command had alone been taking the war to the Germans. For all I knew it would continue on and on until my crew and I finally joined the killed-in-action list. A massive army on the continent meant it was not unreasonable to think that the war might finish and I might get to see Grace and Sue (wife and daughter) again. The battery was well marked by the Pathfinders and from a relatively low height, about 6,500 feet. We all took our time, each aircraft dropping 13,000lbs of bombs. The whole Pointe was battered; the battery including its concrete bunkers was destroyed. Even a part of the cliff tumbled into the sea. US soldiers [2nd Ranger Battalion], who, about two hours later (had they been on time they would have seen and heard us), scaled the cliff to attack and silence the guns not knowing of our attack. They reported the shambles of shattered concrete and steel they saw when they reached the top.

‘On the first day after the Allied armies had landed, their foothold on French soil was still precarious and they could have been in real trouble had the German armoured divisions been able to get there rapidly. Our squadrons were taken off the long flights into Germany and were kept busy attacking both the German tanks and their rail transport routes in and around the Normandy area. We went back to Normandy to destroy a rail and road junction at Argentan about 50 kms from the beachhead. I was Controller for this raid and as it would have been a vital transport junction for the Germans on the following day, I was determined it would be pulverized with nil or absolute minimum damage to the adjacent village. At the planning conference I agreed to a bombing height of 6,000 feet but we all bombed lower. The target was accurately marked. I held up the attack for about five minutes to avoid confusion with another target under attack a few miles away. There were a few complaints but not many and it was another successful raid. Milling around the target in the dark and held back by their CO, the operational discipline was always excellent but the radio comments (always with no call sign) were typically Australian – pertinent, disrespectful, sometimes rude and usually funny. The raid report given by Squadron Leader Vowels, my most experienced Flight Commander in briefing session on return. “Sortie completed. Cloud base 6,000 feet. Vis good. Cluster of green TIs 01.27 hours. 2 × 1,000lb and 14 × 500lb bombs drop height 5,000 feet. Bomb bursts all around and on TIs – straddling and on road junction. Attack went very well, even though it opened about five minutes late through the Controllers order. Control very good and there was no hitch to original plan. TIs were practically bang on. Max error was about 30 yards. Was fired on by British Navy who ceased fire when colours of the period were fired.” Alec Vowels’ comment of being fired on by the British Navy was not unusual around D-Day. The English Channel was full of Allied Naval ships who continued to fire on us as we went across backwards and forwards – fortunately they were not as accurate as the Germans and I was not aware that they did any harm.

‘I think I was the last to bomb at Argentan and my approach to the bomb release point was made on a shallow descending dive. Our bombs were always dropped rapidly one after the other and on this occasion they were dropped at about a micro fraction of a second intervals so they fell in a stick right across the target. I was possibly over keen and was too low, so when the first bomb exploded, its blast hit my aircraft with a really severe thump. In a flash I realized that as I was still losing height each successive blast would be harder and heavier. At this late stage being brought down by my own bombs may have showed my determination to press home the attack but it would have been a stupid way of finishing my career. My own report to the intelligence officer at debriefing states: “Sortie completed. Thin layer cloud, base about 6,000 feet. Bombing appeared good and attack successful. Train on fire possibly ammunition train. 4,000 feet. 01.40 hours. 2 × 1,000lb MC, 14 × 500lb GP. Attack delayed 5 mins to avoid any possibility of the force bombing green TI’s of the eastern target which were put down late. Markers quite good. Majority of bombs appeared overshoot slightly and were to the west of the road junction – in the rail siding.” We landed back at base after a very short return flight – one of the best aspects of fighting so close to base. The self-inflicted damage the ground crew found was a fairly small dent under the tail plane.’²

It was almost daylight when 35 Lancasters from RAF Mildenhall attacked gun sites on the French coast north of Caen and west of Le Havre between 05.00 and 05.13 hours, just before the Allied landings. Red and green TIs were dropped by the PFF and spread for about 600 yards along the beach. The reds were believed to be in the right place but the greens were very scattered. 15 Squadron dropped three hundred and five 500-pounders and 622 Squadron, two hundred and eighty-eight 500-pounders. All aircraft returned safely.

Frank Dengate recalls: ‘On D-Day we operated twice in the one day. Once at dawn and another later on in the day, to Lisieux – a good prang. We did the job. They were only 1,000 yards ahead of our boys and so it was very accurate bombing. Once again the Pathfinders did the job. They dropped TIs where they wanted us to bomb. You can imagine the mess it made to the armour. I’d reckon half of the fellows would be smashed with the shock just from the bombing, even if it didn’t destroy the tanks. Imagine sitting in a tank and getting 1,000-lb bombs dropped on top of you. It’d be a bit of a shock I think. It was very successful. Our boys were able to move forward. We didn’t know it was D-Day. Nobody told us. It was kept a complete secret. Even to those operating. We were just told to bomb the defences along the shores of the D-Day landings. As we came back in the dawn, we could see the terrific mass of shipping going towards the French coast, so we realized it was D-Day.’³

One of the last Australian bomber crews out early on the morning of 6 June was a Lancaster crew captained by Flight Lieutenant F. L. Merrill DFC RAAF. To his crew it had been just another sortie in the pre-invasion softening-up when they took off in the small hours to attack a coastal gun battery. They were scheduled to be among the last of the night bombers to bomb that night and thus were among the first to see the invasion begin. They came down below the clouds on the way back, rounded the south-western side of the Cherbourg Peninsula, passed over a then seemingly empty French coast, and set course for home. Nearing Alderney, off the tip of the peninsula, the whole island seemed suddenly to burst into flames as the anti-aircraft defences opened up – unsuccessfully – on the Lancaster ahead. A few minutes later the invasion fleet came into view, filling the scene as far as the eye could reach, as ships of every kind moved across to Normandy.

At East Kirkby 57 Squadron were debriefed and after a brief rest period the crews found that they were again on the battle order with another evening briefing, as with the rest of the RAF, as ‘Ginger’ Hammersley recalls:

‘We were to be thrown into the battle to establish the beach heads on the Normandy coast. Our part was to prevent movement of enemy reinforcements from the rear of their defences through into the battle area. Along with thirteen other crews we were briefed to attack bridges in Caen over which there were enemy troop movements. O-Oboe carried eighteen 500lb GP bombs. The flight out to the target was uneventful and we made our attack from 5,000 feet as briefed. Then, without any warning, the aircraft was raked with cannon and machine-gun fire, with a short reply from the rear-gunner. Ron Walker put the Lancaster into a dive to starboard and commenced to corkscrew away from the area. There was no more fire from the enemy aircraft, identified by Flying Officer Crombie from the astrodome, as a Ju 88. Ron called all members of the crew to check if all was well. There was no reply from Tom Quayle in the mid-upper gun turret so I went back along the fuselage to see what the problem was, only to find that Tom had been killed in the action. His wounds were such that he must have died instantly. I told Ron of Tom’s fate. Ken Bly came back from his place in the nose of the aircraft, not believing what I had said and obviously taken aback by the event. I persuaded him to return to his place in the nose position and with Ron’s permission, I advised base of the attack made upon us by the enemy fighter and the death of the gunner. From the inside of the fuselage, it was obvious that we had sustained a lot of damage from the cannon fire from the fighter and care in landing would be required, particularly as the aircraft was not handling too well. The reply from base said that an ambulance would be ready to receive us.

‘It was nearly 5am as we circled the airfield and headed down wind when we were given permission to land. Although we made a not too bumpy landing, a tyre burst, the starboard wing broke open and out came the dinghy, which inflated and was dragged along the runway. We headed towards the waiting ambulance and the medical team led by the Station Medical Officer. On entering the aircraft they looked at Tom and quickly confirmed my original diagnosis that he had lost his life when we were hit by the cannon and gunfire from the enemy fighter. Furthermore the Lancaster was in a mess. Both gun turrets were damaged, the bomb bay had been hit, there were many cannon and machine-gun bullet holes in the fuselage and both the port, tail and mainplane were damaged. A sad night indeed. After the debriefing, we met the Medical Officer who prescribed drugs to get us all off to sleep for the day. I slept well into the next day and felt much rested when I awoke. With the rest of the crew, I was stood down from flying for a few days, although the squadron was still active with attacks on the enemy in support of our land forces in Normandy.⁴

Raids on the communication targets continued on the night of 7/8 June when 337 aircraft were dispatched to bomb railway targets at Achères, Juvisy, Massy-Palaiseau and Versailles. At Mildenhall 17 Lancasters of 15 Squadron and eight of 622 Squadron took off to attack the important rail and road junction at Massy-Palaiseau about 14 miles south of Paris. The target was very well marked with red and green TIs and bomb bursts were concentrated amongst them. The railway track could be seen in the light of the explosions. Crews bombed from only 6,000 feet and at this altitude they encountered intense light flak on the leg into the target. They also met considerable fighter opposition. Seventeen Lancasters and 11 Halifaxes were lost. A Lancaster of 15 Squadron, flown by Flight Lieutenant W. J. Bell DFC, was badly shot up by a Messerschmitt 110 night fighter and his navigator, Sergeant C. W. Kirk, was killed by a cannon shell. Bell crash-landed at Friston airfield near Beachy Head and the aircraft immediately burst into flames but all the crew escaped with minor injuries. Three other 15 Squadron crews including Squadron Leader P. J. Lamason DFC RNZAF, ‘A’ Flight Commander and his crew of H-Harry who had an average of 40 operational sorties between them failed to return. Lamason and one of his crew were taken prisoner while three others evaded and two were killed.⁵

On 8/9 June 483 aircraft attacked rail targets at Alençon, Fougères, Mayenne, Pontabault and Rennes to prevent German reinforcements from the south reaching the Normandy battle area. Three Lancasters and a Mosquito failed to return. That same night the first 12,000lb Tallboy bombs, developed by Dr Barnes Wallis, were used when 25 Lancasters of 617 Squadron dropped these fearsome weapons on the a railway tunnel near Saumur to prevent a Panzer unit moving up to the Normandy front by train. The target area was illuminated with flares by four Lancasters of 83 Squadron and marked at low level by three Mosquitoes. The Tallboys were dropped with great accuracy and the tunnel was destroyed in a ‘miniature earthquake’.

On the night of 10/11 June, 432 aircraft attacked rail targets at Achères, Dreux, Orlèans and Versailles. Frank Dengate’s crew were one of those who attacked the Dreux marshalling yards and he reported cloud ‘all the way then clear – a good prang’. Fifteen Lancasters, including one from 15 Squadron flown by Flight Lieutenant W. Dobson, an Australian from Geraldton, Western Australia, who had joined the RAF on a short service commission before the war, and three Halifaxes, failed to return. There were no survivors in Dobson’s crew. Another of the Lancasters lost on the raid on Dreux was one of 90 Squadron flown by pilot Pilot Officer T. A. Burnett. Most of the crew were flying their first operation. Only Burnett and the mid-upper gunner Sergeant D. A. F. Munday had flown a previous operation. The aircraft left Tuddenham at about 22.45 hours and reached the target area without incident. The night was dark but clear. Just as the Lancaster was making the bombing run, flying at 7,000 feet, it was attacked from ahead by an enemy aircraft, variously described as a Ju 88 and a Fw 190. The W/Op saw the fighter dive under the port wing and the rear-gunner saw it come in on the starboard side. Sergeant W. F. Gallivion the rear-gunner opened fire. The Lancaster had been hit in the port wing between the engines and No. 2 tank was badly holed, emptying almost immediately. The flight engineer changed to another tank, as No. 2 was in use during the attack. Meanwhile Burnett corkscrewed and the aircraft overshot the target. He turned to make another run and the bombs were dropped at 01.03 hours. The aircraft was then hit by flak either on the port inner engine or between the engine and the fuselage. The engine caught fire and, at the pilot’s order, the flight engineer feathered it and cut off the idle cock. Burnett then cut off the master cock. The propeller stopped and the flight engineer pushed the fire extinguisher button. However, the fire did not go out and the engineer reported the whole wing on fire. Burnett then ordered the crew to bale out as the aircraft was falling very rapidly and was very bumpy.

The W/Op detonated the IFF set and took the flimsies giving stations, frequencies etc., putting them with his escape gear. He then put on his parachute and went to the rear exit. The exit was open when he reached it. He plugged in to report he was baling out but got no reply. He then took off his helmet, climbed the step, put his head between his knees and rolled out. He remembered only that he pulled his ripcord but knew nothing of the descent or landing. The bomb-aimer was still in the nose of the aircraft when the order was given to bale out. The escape hatch was covered with bundles of ‘window’ and in among these his intercom became unplugged so that he did not hear the order to bale out. Meanwhile the navigator and flight engineer put on their parachutes. The flight engineer went forward and saw the bomb-aimer hesitating by the escape hatch. He made signs to the bomb-aimer to bale out; the latter opened and jettisoned the hatch, which jammed for a short time. He then took his parachute, clipped it on and went out feet first, followed by the engineer. The aircraft at this time was falling very fast and although the bomb-aimer stated that he was about five minutes in the air, the engineer landed after 10 to 15 seconds. The aircraft was already burning when it hit the ground at Grandvilliers near Tillieres-Sur-Aure. Burnett and Munday were killed and Sergeant Gallivion baled out and was taken prisoner. Two sergeants and Warrant Officer G. A. Hartwig RAAF descended safely by parachute and evaded capture.⁶

When, in March, Group Captain Hamish Mahaddie had been looking for volunteers for 635 Squadron, a new Pathfinder squadron that was just being formed, he visited 51 Squadron flying Halifaxes at Snaith, and Sergeant Larry Melling, after discussing the possibility with the rest of the crew, had decided to volunteer. They successfully completed the course at the Pathfinder Navigation Training Unit at Warboys, where were introduced to the Lancaster. After a 45-minute familiarization flight Melling was sent off on his own. The following evening he was given a 25-minute night circuit and again turned loose on his own. There followed mock operations to check the accuracy of his flying and the navigator’s performance and to assess the bomb-aimer’s accuracy. Finally, they were posted to ‘B’ Flight, 635 Squadron at Downham Market in Norfolk on 27 May. Melling recalled:

‘On arrival at a Pathfinder Squadron new crews were first given a “Support” role until they proved that they were able to meet the stringent requirements of accurate navigation to ensure arriving at the target within plus or minus 30 seconds of the assigned time. The accuracy of the bomb-aimer was also assessed, based on the bombing photos taken automatically when the bombs were dropped. Crews were divided into “visual markers” and “blind markers”, the latter relying mainly on H₂S to identify and mark the target. We were assigned as a “blind” crew and, as a result, the bomb-aimer had to do additional training in reading the H₂S screen; he became known as Nav2. On the night of 11/12 June in ND811 (F2-T), we attacked the railway yards at Tours in order to disrupt the transport of German army reinforcements to the front in Normandy.⁷ When we arrived at the target the area was covered in solid cloud and we were instructed by the master bomber to descend below cloud for our bombing run. I do not know what the altimeter setting was in the target area but when we dropped our bomb load my altimeter was reading 1,500 feet. Hitchcock, my tail gunner, shot at and extinguished a searchlight and I can still recall seeing the wet cobblestones on the streets of the town! Further operations to disrupt enemy lines of communication to the Normandy area continued during the rest of June, with a couple of trips to attack V-1 launching sites.’

In the small hours of 13 June a Lancaster of 75 Squadron RNZAF, its pilot, Pilot Officer G. McCardle RNZAF, unconscious, was flown from France and put down safely by Warrant Officer Alexander ‘Alec’ Hurse RAAF. The 24 year old Australian bomb-aimer from Victoria, who had flown 29 ops when they took off to bomb Nantes, had never before been alone at an aircraft’s controls. The Lancaster had taken off from Mildenhall in the starlight at about midnight, for the railway centre of Nantes and all was quiet as it flew in over France, coming down from 7,000 to 2,000 feet to get below the cloud to bomb. Then, over the target, after it had bombed, six searchlights picked up the Lancaster. McCardle corkscrewed and during this manoeuvre the Lanc was hit simultaneously three times, twice in the port wing and once in the cockpit. McCardle was wounded in the neck, leg and side. He was just able to say on intercom, “I’m hit; I’m hit – get out!” The navigator, Flying Officer A. H. R. Zillwood RNZAF called Hurse up forward to see the pilot. Hurse found him clutching the stick to his chest, just conscious, but unable to see because of his injuries. The aircraft was going almost vertically up through the cloud and out of the searchlights’ glare. Hurse took the control column from the pilot and levelled up while Zillwood got McCardle out of his seat and laid him beside the bed. Hurse had never had any training as a pilot, except that he had had a little dual instruction in a Stirling bomber but there was no one else in the crew who could take the controls and he felt confident he could get the aircraft back to base. He was not so sure he could land it. On the way back the wireless operator received a message to land at a grass airfield about 400 miles from Nantes. There the Lancaster, with Hurse at the controls, arrived at 04.50 hours. White flares were sent up to guide it in. Hurse circled twice while he asked whether anyone wanted to bale out, but everyone said, “No” and Hurse brought the Lancaster down to a “definitely unprofessional” landing. It bounced four times swung to port, and stopped. This achievement by Hurse resulted in the award of a CGM for the temporary pilot and Flying Officer Zillwood was awarded the DFC for his part in the night’s ordeal.

On the night of 12/13 June 671 aircraft attacked communication targets, mostly railways in France and a stream of 286 Lancasters and 17 Mosquitoes headed for Gelsenkirchen. Seventeen Halifaxes and six Lancasters failed to return from the communication raids⁸ and 17 Lancasters were brought down on the Gelsenkirchen raid by the German defences.⁹ Oberleutnant Dieter Schmidt, Staffelkapitän, 8./NJG 1 and his crew, Schönfeld and Schlosser, who were all on their 126th operation claimed one of the Gelsenkirchen raiders:¹⁰ Schmidt recalls:

‘We took-off from Leeuwarden in Bf 110 G9+AS (Anton Siegfried) and approached the Ruhr for the first time in this period of darkness. We were fairly late. I was flying at full throttle. The attack was already in full swing, mainly explosive bombs. The last bombs were falling as we got close to the target. Where was the departure route? I guessed over to port, across the Zuidersee and therefore continued towards north. I was right. Soon we had them before us. Kurt guided with the SN-2. Soon I saw one directly in front. At short range I could clearly make out the eight exhausts – a Viermot – distance 500 metres and relatively fast. It was fairly hazy but not bad. I attacked from 100 metres and from behind as usual, between the engines, aiming a little low, pressing the buttons and pulling a little up and there it was. The entire starboard wing was on fire. For a moment I saw clearly the port one with the low-mounted engines brightly lit. It looked like another Lancaster. Then we broke off quickly to port and up. Blazing fiercely he passed below our starboard wing. Pieces were breaking away. Kurt saw two parachutes. Then he went vertically down to crash. The radio beacon Kurfürst was 10 – 20 kilometres to the south-east. ’¹¹

On 14 June 221 Lancasters and 13 Mosquitoes carried out Bomber Command’s first daylight raid since the departure of 2 Group to the Second Tactical Air Force at the end of May 1943, when they attacked German E-boats at Le Havre. Included in the force were 22 Lancasters of 617 Squadron, each loaded with a 12,000lb Tallboy bomb. Harris was still reluctant to risk his heavy bombers on daylight operations but Spitfires escorted both waves of the attack and only one Lancaster was lost.

On 15/16 June 224 aircraft attacked railway yards at Lens and Valenciennes. Frank Dengate recalls: ‘There was cloud almost to Valenciennes but the target was clear. We bombed on the master bomber’s instructions as he checked the target indicators in relation to the true target. We lost five aircraft.’¹²

On 16/17 June, 405 aircraft of Bomber Command began a new campaign aginst V-1 flying-bomb launching sites in the Pas de Calais with raids on four targets accurately marked by Oboe Mosquitoes.¹³ The following night Frank Dengate’s crew went to Montdidier to bomb a rail junction to prevent movement of reinforcements to the invasion front line: ‘There was complete cloud cover and the master bomber radioed the code words “Monkey Nuts”, which meant “Do not bomb”. It was important when bombing over France not to bomb if conditions were not favourable, to avoid stray bombs killing French civilians. So we returned with our bombs, 8,876lbs of them. We saw some flying bombs and hoped that they didn’t get as far as London.’¹⁴

On 18 June a flying bomb struck the Guards Chapel at London’s Wellington Barracks, killing 121 people. Next day the decision was taken to give priority to attacking the launch sites as well as the storage depots.

On 21 June 322 aircraft in loose formations and escorted by Spitfires were dispatched in daylight to bomb three flying bomb sites in northern France. 15 Squadron’s target was Marquise/Mimoyecques but cloud prevented accurate bombing and so the master bomber gave the code word ‘Buttermilk’ and the aircraft returned with their bomb loads intact. Cloud forced the abandonment of two of the raids after only 17 aircraft had bombed and at the third target, at St-Martin-l’Hortier, the heavies bombed through 10/10ths cloud. Because of Allied air superiority over France, daylight raids became increasingly common. Unlike the American 8th Air Force, RAF Bomber Command operated in a giant gaggle and not usually in formation, thereby cutting losses to flak. That night, 133 Lancasters and six Mosquitoes headed for the synthetic oil plant at Wesseling, a town nine miles south of Cologne and 123 Lancasters and nine Mosquitoes set out for another synthetic oil plant, at Scholven/Buer. Clear weather conditions were forecast for both target areas, which were to be bombed simultaneously and it was planned to use the low-level marking method but both targets were covered by 10/10ths cloud so at Wesseling H₂S was used and at Scholven/Buer Pathfinder aircraft provided Oboe-based sky-marking instead. Eight Lancasters at Scholven/Buer were shot down and the Wesseling force lost 37 aircraft. Three of the Lancaster squadrons were particularly badly hit, with 619 losing six of the sixteen aircraft dispatched and 44 and 49 Squadrons losing the same number each, while at East Kirkby five Lancasters failed to return and a sixth ditched in the North Sea off Great Yarmouth.¹⁵

Flight Lieutenant Ron Walker DFC and his very experienced crew of 83 (Pathfinder) Squadron had lifted off from Coningsby’s long runway in Lincolnshire at 23.18 hours. Their 45th operational flight proved relatively uneventful until they reached Eindhoven when Hauptmann Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer, Kommandeur of IV./NJG 1, attacked them. Schnaufer’s cannon shells ripped into the Lancaster that was still loaded with bombs and the bomber exploded. It was his 81st confirmed victim. Walker was blown from the bomber and, though unconscious, he miraculously survived with only a bruised leg and back. His crew died in the aircraft. Walker was quickly helped by Dutch Resistance workers and, after a series of adventures and hair-raising escapes evading German troops, he reached the home of a very brave woman, Jacoba Pulskens in Tilburg on 8 July. With two shot down navigators Roy Carter RCAF and Jack Knott RAAF they awaited their next move across the Belgian border to safety but six members of the Gestapo burst into the house and in a flurry of shots the three aircrew were killed. Jacoba Pulskens was arrested and after much suffering at the hands of the Germans was put to death in a gas chamber in February 1945.¹⁶

On 23/24 June 390 heavies and 22 Mosquitoes carried out attacks on four V-1 sites in the Pas de Calais area and 203 Lancasters and four Mosquitoes set out for rail yards at Limoges and Saintes. All four flying bomb sites were hit. Seven Lancasters, including five from 463 and 467 Squadrons at Waddington, were lost on the night’s operations. One of the three 463 Squadron Lancasters shot down on the raid on Prouville was piloted by Pilot Officer J. F. Martin RAAF, which was shot down by a night fighter and crashed east of Abbeville. Sergeant T. A. Malcolm RAAF, the bomb-aimer, was the only survivor. He wandered about France for about a month before he was picked up by the Gestapo, who took him to a civilian prison near Paris. When the Allies reached Paris, he was taken, with eight other Australians, to the notorious concentration camp at Buchenwald where he saw the shrunken heads and the human skin lampshades. After a few days, Malcolm was transferred to Stalag Luft III. Fourteen Lancasters in the Mildenhall squadrons took part in attacks on the V-1 site near L’Hey on the edge of a forest not many miles inland from the French coast. A Lancaster in 622 Squadron flown by Flight Sergeant W. H. Cooke RNZAF was shot down. Cooke and one other member of his crew were killed while five survived to be taken prisoner. Frank Dengate’s crew had a lucky escape when a trigger-happy gunner in another aircraft fired at their Lancaster.

Flight Lieutenant R. G. Wharton, rear-gunner in F for Freddie, a 7 Squadron, 8 (PFF) Group Lancaster at Oakington, flown by Flight Lieutenant Brian Prow, whose target was at L’Hey, recalls:

‘Prow had recently been promoted master bomber in the Pathfinder Force (a highly prized position) the members of which were chosen carefully and had to pass stringent tests before being accepted by D. C. T. Bennett (soon to be AVM Bennett, a legend in the RAF). Our crew had been granted the honour of leading the attack on the L’Hey site and we carried special multi-coloured bombs which, on exploding, marked the target with the chosen colour of the day. The colour was not disclosed to crews until just before take-off in order to ensure that the enemy did not have the opportunity of duplicating the colour before the main attack began or during it. “Jerry” quite frequently did just that, much to our discomfort, for that meant we had to go in once again to re-mark. It also meant that the following bomber force was torn between the choice of two targets; ours and Jerry’s and his were always well away from the real target. Brian did not disguise the fact that he intended this trip to be a success. With all preliminaries duly completed we took-off at 00.30 hours and headed for the target. The outward flight was uneventful. Only sporadic anti-aircraft fire was directed at us as we crossed the French coast and soon we were approaching our target. We found the site very well camouflaged but as we had special equipment, coupled with radar co-ordinates, which gave our navigator pinpoint accuracy, we quickly found our marking point and dropped our markers. On this occasion the main force bombers arrived precisely on time and began their bombing. A couple of aircraft passed over our marker when suddenly there was an almighty “Bang” followed by a display of pyrotechnics that was a joy to behold. At least it was to us for that told us that the raid had been successful. The whole scene convinced us that a fuel dump or maybe an ammunition dump had been hit for shell-bursts were taking place hundreds of feet in the air and in all directions.

‘The successive explosions were rocking us at 5,000 feet, providing everyone with a grandstand view until Brian’s voice came over the intercom, “There is a Lancaster being attacked by a Junkers 88” and he ordered our bomb-aimer in the front turret to open fire on the attacker. After a short burst from his two Brownings everything went quiet and the bomb-aimer reported a stoppage, whereupon Brian manoeuvred the plane to enable the mid-upper turret and me to fire at the attacker. The mid-upper gunner had chosen that moment to visit the Elsan so it was left to me to deal with the situation. The rear turret was fitted with four Brownings, which were capable of firing 1,000 rounds per minute from each gun; a very formidable hail of bullets to encounter. Immediately I got the enemy aircraft in my sights I opened fire with a five-second-burst and that was sufficient. I hit the Junkers on the starboard engine. He went down steeply and exploded just before he entered the clouds.

‘There was a certain amount of excitement, which I think contributed to a lapse in concentration so necessary to maintain at all times, particularly over enemy territory and we failed to spot another Me 210 positioning for an attack. As he straightened up I called the mid-upper gunner and told him to open fire. Our combined firepower proved too much for him and he broke off the engagement. We learnt later that we had scored hits and he had force-landed in a field near some Resistance fighters who, at the first opportunity, set his plane on fire. We had hardly regained our breath however, when suddenly we were hit. The starboard tailplane received a large hole and the line of fire continued up the fuselage tearing an even larger hole in the mainplane. In fact it shot a petrol tank in the wing clear out; just one gaping hole. As the aircraft broke away to position itself for another attack I recognized it as a Me 210 and it was equipped with the fixed angled firing cannon on the top of the fuselage. The pilot could position himself well under his target and adjust to the direction and speed of its prey, then drift slowly upward and slightly astern to make his attack. This was no time for aircraft recognition and I lost no time opening fire on the attacker. I was lucky for I definitely scored hits. The tracer bullets that I used were obviously hitting him for there were no ricochets and my bullets were not going past him. Soon I had verification for he suddenly dived through the clouds and we observed a brilliant and widespread flash of light from the ground.

‘Brian was by now wrestling with the controls, attempting to keep the Lancaster flying and gradually he was able to steer a course for home. “Bloodied but unbowed”. A more detailed assessment was made to the extent of the damage. To put it into the words of our flight engineer. “A bloody great hole in the tailplane with attendant damage to the tail-fin, part shrapnel holes in the fuselage all the way from the rear turret to the main wing member and another bloody great hole in the starboard wing that you could drop a bloody piano through. Other than that, I cannot possibly see why we are still flying.” I dared not tell him that there was nowhere to rest my feet for there was nothing but a gaping hole when I looked down. Also, my guns were useless for the hydraulics had been shot away. I reckoned that Brian had enough on his mind concentrating on getting home. He asked for a course for Woodbridge, a recognized emergency-landing site and called for silence on the intercom to allow him to nurse our faithful F for Freddie home. Lurching, swaying, crabbing but always fighting to reach home we at last crossed the English coastline practically in line for landing at Woodbridge but on asking permission to land we were told to identify ourselves before they would switch the flarepath on. Brian was livid but we had to obey regulations and fire flares, which were the colour of the day, We landed not knowing whether our wheels had locked, and the flight engineer fired all six of the remaining flare cartridges over the airfield. We gently rolled to a stop. A second or two later F for Freddie tilted slowly to starboard and the wing settled down on the grass, then slowly the port wing dropped too. I swear I heard a sound very similar to a sigh, as if to say, “Well I managed it lads. I got you home.” I manually wound the rear turret to astern, opened the two small doors to evacuate the turret and then I placed my head in my clasped hands, resting on the sight, relaxed and said a little prayer.’

Flight Sergeant Derek Patfield was relieved to get home too. They had taken off from Skellingthorpe in a thunderstorm for the marshalling yards at Limoges and they had their navigation lights on ‘practically all the way to the target’, which he recalls, ‘was a bit drastic. My position got absolutely soaked because it leaked like a sieve around the front turret. My two guns and the four propellers were all arced in blue static electricity – St Elmo’s Fire. The wireless op had to let down the trailing aerial before we came in to land to earth all the static from the aircraft. It was quite a “do” what with all the thunder and lightning. I had never been so cold and wet before in my life.’

On 24 June 321 aircraft, including 200 Halifaxes and 106 Lancasters, attacked three V-1 sites in the clear over the Pas de Calais without loss. Sixteen Lancasters and two Mosquitoes of 617 Squadron bombed the flying-bomb site at Wizernes with their Tallboy bombs, the Dam Busters losing one Lancaster. That night 739 aircraft, including 535 Lancasters of all groups, attacked seven V-1 sites. It was a clear, moonlit night and 22 Lancasters were lost, mostly to night fighters. At Prouville the Pathfinder Force was inaccurate and no markers were even seen by most of the 467 Squadron crews. Therefore the controller ordered that the force would orbit until the target was effectively marked. This was in a heavily defended area, with many guns, searchlights and, worst of all, heavy fighter opposition. Very many aircraft were seen falling in flames. The Lancaster flown by Pilot Officer S. Johns was attacked, the crew clearly hearing the cannon fire from the fighter before feeling the impact of shells, which started a fire raging in the rear. Flight Sergeant E. D. Dale, the mid-upper gunner, was trapped by the fire and with his intercom destroyed, assumed that the aircraft could not survive. He baled out but his parachute was ‘coned’ by searchlights and the German gunners apparently shot at the descending gunner. Johns meanwhile sent his navigator and flight engineer back to fight the flames, which were eventually extinguished and Johns brought the battered Lancaster home. When the aircraft landed it was found that the rear turret had been almost ripped from its housing and Flight Sergeant J. J. Fallon, the gunner, was also missing. His parachute was still in the aircraft and it was concluded that he must have been blown out of the turret by the night fighter attack.¹⁷

Next day 323 aircraft pounded three more V-1 sites, which were very difficult to hit. Wing Commander Leonard Cheshire, the CO of 617 Squadron, who always tried to increase bombing accuracy, accompanied 17 Lancasters and two Mosquitoes to the Siracourt flying bomb store in a P-51 Mustang, with the purpose of using it as a low level marker aircraft. What is remarkable is that the Mustang had only arrived that same afternoon, courtesy of the US 8th Air Force, and this was Cheshire’s first flight in it! His Lancasters scored three direct hits on the concrete store with Tallboy bombs and Cheshire landed safely back at Woodhall Spa in the dark.¹⁸

On 28/29 June 230 bombers hit the railway yards at Blainville and Metz for the loss of 18 Halifaxes and two Lancasters.¹⁹

Many operations were flown in direct support of the Allied armies. The Lancasters bombed battlefield targets to assist ground forces and mounted attacks on flying bomb sites and depots. In the early hours of 30 June a 75 Squadron Lancaster blew up at Mepal and four other Lancasters, hit by the blast, were also put out of action. Later that day 266 aircraft carried out a raid on a road junction at Villers-Bocage. Tanks of two Panzer divisions, the 2nd SS Das Reich, which was in Toulouse, and the 9th, were believed to be en route to Normandy and would have to pass through the junction in order to carry out a planned attack on the Allied armies in the battle area. The raid was orchestrated by the master bomber, who ordered the bombing force to drop down to 4,000 feet in order to be sure of seeing the markers in the smoke and dust of the exploding bombs. Frank Dengate, now an acting squadron leader in charge of ‘A’ Flight in 15 Squadron, flew on the raid and recalled that it was ‘a good prang, 10 miles ahead of our troops. We lost one aircraft to flak over the target [a Halifax was also shot down] and also, “Z” of 15 Squadron was involved in a collision over Mildenhall but both aircraft were OK. In all, 1,100 tons of bombs were dropped with great accuracy on the road junction and the planned German attack was called off.’

On 2 July 374 Lancasters and 10 Mosquitoes attacked three flying bomb sites. 15 Squadron went to Apps Beauvoir, a storage base for V-1s, escorted by Spitfires. Frank Dengate recorded that it was ‘a good prang – no losses’. For his navigator, Flying Officer Art Cantrell, it was his last trip and he was subsequently posted to the Canadian OTU at Honeybourne. Meanwhile, the land battle in Normandy was hotting up and bombing raids were made on rail targets and flying bomb sites. Frank Dengate returned from a six-day leave. On 12 July he and his crew in K-King took part in a daylight operation by 153 Lancasters and six Mosquitoes to the railway yards at Vaires, on the outskirts of Paris, but the target area was covered by cloud. The master bomber sent the code word ‘Buttermilk’ to abandon the attack after two of the Mosquitoes had marked and 12 of the Lancasters had bombed. Frank Dengate recalls: ‘We had to bring our bombs back home again. Flak hit us and wiped out one of our engines. I had to feather it to stop it catching fire. We were going slow back to base and we were on our own. It was a bit risky. Fortunately my wireless operator got up in the astrodome and with his Aldis lamp sent a message to one of the other aircraft in our squadron to send some escorts. Sure enough, a Spitfire came and escorted us home. The German fighters were always ready to have a crack at an individual aeroplane and you didn’t have much chance. When we got to Mildenhall I found I had no brakes. The line was cut. I hit the deck and we still had the bomb load on board. I feathered the other outer engine and kept the two inner engines for directing the aircraft for taxiing. I was heading for the hangars so I swung the aeroplane left, jumped the slit trenches and went through a fence into a beautiful wheat field ready for harvest at West Row, where we spun round in a semi circle. We eventually stopped without damage and the ambulance and fire engines and everyone else followed through and made the wheat field one great flat mass. It worked out all right but the farmer was upset and came out shaking his fist!’²⁰

On 4 July more ‘daylights’ were flown when 328 bomber crews – mostly Halifaxes – attacked V-1 flying bomb sites in northern France again. Also, the Lancasters of 5 Group were given a special target, a flying bomb site at St-Leu-d’Esserent in the Pas de Calais, which was to be hit first by 17 Lancasters of 617 Squadron, supported by a Mustang and a Mosquito. One of the 5 Group Lancasters that took part was Q-Queenie in 61 Squadron at Skellingthorpe where Flying Officer Harold Watkins’ crew were assigned the aircraft for their fifth operation of their tour. Flight Sergeant Edgar Ray, who had trained as an observer in South Africa but, because of a desperate shortage, had become a bomb-aimer, recollected:

‘The Station Tannoy would call up crews and inform them of meal and op briefing times. Usually we ate the bacon and egg flying meal before the operation, then bomb-aimers and wireless operators left for specialist briefings. Bomb-aimers went to the Bombing Office that was situated at one end of a small Nissen hut. Our Bombing Leader was Pop Nugent, a second tour Aussie Flight Lieutenant. The other half of the hut was the domain of 61 Squadron’s Maps and Charts Queen, a luscious, very well formed WAAF Corporal, who ensured that we all had full topographical map cover for the Continental part of our sortie. In the Bombing Briefing we were given details of the bomb load to be carried, total weight, bomb types, bomb delay times, position of bomb types in the bomb bay and pressure settings for the Mk.XIV bombsight. All this information was recorded on the bomb-aimer’s flight gen sheet. After the specialist briefings the crews met up in the main briefing room. As we entered this large Nissen hut, eyes were immediately drawn to a huge map of Western Europe at the far end of the building, with coloured tapes stretching across its surface indicating the route from base to target and back. Some idea of the target was deduced earlier by the crews from the amount fuel and type of bombs that had been loaded aboard the aircraft.

‘St-Leu-d’Esserent consisted of an area of large caves tunnelled out some years before the war and used by the French to grow mushrooms. The Germans cleaned up the inside of the caves and used them to store V-1 flying bombs. The aim of the attack was to collapse the roof of the caves, which had been estimated to be about 25 feet thick. A subsidiary aim of the raid was to devastate the road and rail communications running between the caves and the river. At the briefing we were warned that the area was heavily defended by flak units and to keep a sharp lookout for night fighters. This was an all-5 Group bombing operation with a few 8 Group Pathfinders. 9 and 617 Squadrons carried the big 12,000lb Tallboy bombs while the rest of the Lancaster force carried about the same weight of bombs made up of 1,000lb and 500lb HEs. Many of the bombs were fitted with six-hour delay pistols.

‘After the main briefing we all went to the locker room and emptied our pockets of any items that could be helpful to the enemy in the event of being shot down and captured. Next I changed into my flying kit and tested my flying helmet and oxygen mask on a test rig, drew parachute, Mae West and escape equipment. This contained a silk handkerchief map and currency of the area over which we would fly. (For long night operations over Germany the gunners and bomb-aimer had to wear plenty of clothing to keep warm. The heating never seemed to work properly at these crew stations resulting in sub-zero temperatures. W/Op and navigator wore minimum flying clothing because their station received blasts of excessively hot air. Only the pilot and engineer were lucky enough to work in a moderate temperature zone within the aircraft). After kitting up, all the crews went out to the waiting buses or made their way to the aircraft dispersal on motorcycles, bikes or in their own cars. Upon arrival at the dispersal I would first check the bomb load and sign a receipt for the bombs. We would enter the aircraft, run up engines, check all essential equipment then shut down. The skipper would then sign the Form 700 signifying that he was satisfied with the serviceability of the aircraft. We then had a tense period of waiting at the dispersal, chatting with ground crew until engine start-up time.

‘The dispersal was usually littered with 500lb and 1,000lb general-purpose bombs. These were left around the area, as there was insufficient time to take bomb deliveries to the bomb dump where they should have been fused. The armourers usually prepared the 500-and 1,000-pounders at the dispersals. Specialist bombs like the 4,000lb cookies and 4lb incendiaries were stored at the bomb dump. When these were required for an operation they were loaded onto bomb trolleys and driven to a fusing shed before being taken to the aircraft dispersals. When ops were “on” the station armourers had the dangerous and backbreaking task, bombing up each of the forty aircraft with five tons of bombs. Sometimes if the target was changed it meant removing all the bombs from every aircraft and replacing them with a different type of load before de-fusing and making safe the downloaded bombs at the dispersals. As engine start-up time approached we boarded the aircraft and settled down in our take-off crew positions. Once the engines had been started we soon merged with a line of slow moving aircraft around the perimeter track and joined the queue of Lancs waiting their turn to move forward onto the main runway for take-off. The green go light had been received from the air traffic caravan, the skipper quickly got the aircraft lumbering down the runway and off on the first leg of the route to the target area. One feature of take-off with full fuel tanks was the cones of fuel vapour, which surrounded each prop and trailed well behind each wing. All very pretty but most disconcerting for the mid-upper gunner!

‘The bomb-aimer’s contribution on the way out to the target varied greatly between night and day sorties. At night, very little could be seen. On the long haul across the North Sea to targets in north Germany all was dark on reaching the enemy coastline. Getting a pin-point visual fix on the enemy coast was a hit and miss affair, resulting in many complaints from the navigator in his curtained-off office. Daylight raids were a totally different experience for the bomber crews and bomb-aimers in particular. I could see everything that was happening ahead. Topographical maps were used continuously and map reading occupied most of my time. Most of the daylight raids were on targets in France and after crossing the French coast I could track visually all the way to the target area.

‘The aiming point at St-Leu-d’Esserent was a limestone hillside overlooking the river Oise. We made our attack at 01.30 hours from 15,000 feet. Throughout the bomb run the German defences threw up heavy flak and after “Bombs gone” we thankfully turned away from the target area. Suddenly, Carson Jack Foy, our rear-gunner, yelled over the intercom. “Fighter! Fighter! Corkscrew port – Go!” Our Skipper dived the aircraft to port at the start of the corkscrew manoeuvre. At the same time we heard Jack’s guns chattering away as the fighter dived past and disappeared underneath us. Shortly afterwards came a second attack. Jack called “Corkscrew” and hammered away again with his guns at the incoming fighter. This happened twice more during the next ten minutes and Jack continued firing hundreds of rounds even though three of his four guns overheated and went and out of action.

‘Our extensive fighter evasion tactics had taken us gradually south of the target area and, after the final attack, north-west. This threw us off our planned course and even from my bomb-aimer’s position I could see nothing of the ground to help with a visual fix. Eventually our navigator Doug Hockin got a good Gee fix, despite the jamming from a German radio station on the Eiffel Tower and a course was set for home. We landed back at Skellingthorpe at about 03.30 hours, extremely tired after such a stressful experience. At the debrief Jack Foy reckoned that he hit the night fighter that attacked us and saw it falling away after its fourth attack. He was credited with a probable night fighter victory in his log. Anyway, we were all thankful that Jack had such good night-vision. He saved our lives that night. The next morning our flight armourer inspected all the aircraft’s guns. He reported that the rear turret gun barrels were so worn, due to the overheating that they must be replaced before the next sortie. Over the following three weeks we flew another four bombing sorties against various targets in support of the Allied ground forces in France.’

‘July started out with a continuation of trips in support of the invasion forces’ recalls Sergeant Larry Melling ‘and I did my first daylight operation, to Caen, on the 7th. Much has been written about the effectiveness of this raid but I believe that it certainly resulted in saving many lives of the ground forces who had been held up in that area for some considerable time.²¹ Two days later we were detailed to attack a V-1 launching site at L’Hey near Paris (when 347 aircraft bombed six launching sites). We made our bombing run at 15,000 feet amid a few black puffs of flak and made a long slow turn to starboard to begin the trip back home to Downham. Just as we completed the turn the aircraft lurched suddenly, the port wing came up and there was a rattling of shrapnel against the fuselage. A glance out of the port cockpit window showed white smoke coming from the port inner, meaning that we were losing coolant but of the port outer there was no sign at all – just the bare firewall with some cables dangling loose. Sergeant J. E. Blyth, the flight engineer, had already started the feathering procedure for the port inner and I immediately shut off the fuel cock to the port outer. Then began the struggle to trim the aircraft to fly on only two starboard engines. Full right rudder trim and full aileron trim were not sufficient to accomplish this; it took full right rudder and a somewhat starboard-wing-down attitude to maintain anything like a semblance of a straight course. I checked that all crew members were unhurt. As we had no way of being certain that we had not sustained any further damage from the shrapnel, the decision was made in concert with my flight engineer to head for Manston, the emergency airfield in Kent, rather than return to Downham Market. The flight to Manston took about an hour.

‘Flight Sergeant L. Bell, my bomb-aimer, suggested that he could relieve the pressure on my right leg by using the long bar of the control lock as a lever by putting it in front of the rudder pedal and across, behind the throttle control pedestal. Unfortunately the bar proved to be too short and all that was achieved was a slight bend in it. By placing both feet on the right rudder pedal I was able to relieve the strain to some extent. Thus we flew back to England in a slow descent, crossing the Kent coast at some 5,000 feet. At this time I had a total of some 450 flying hours as a pilot, of which only 45 were on Lancasters, with a grand total of 21 landings! Accordingly, as we approached Manston I informed my crew that I was going to land the aircraft but that if they wanted to bale out I would not hold it against them. They all decided that they would stay with me, which gave me a much-needed boost of confidence. I instructed them to take up their crash positions behind the main spar, with the exception of my flight engineer, who I asked to remain with me to handle flaps until I was committed to the landing.

‘When I got down to about 800 feet on the approach I realized that I was lined up on a railway track and the runway itself was about a mile off to port. With only the two starboard engines operating there was no way I was going to attempt a turn to port, so I had no choice but to do a 360 turn to starboard! This resulted in my being correctly lined up but when I gave the order for full flap at some 500 feet on final, my flight engineer had already taken off for his crash position! Blyth later told me that when I had to make the turn around to get lined up with the runway, he was convinced that I wasn’t going to make it! We did, however, land quite safely and there was no further damage to the aircraft.²² During my career I landed many times on three engines but this was the only occasion when I had to land a four-engined aircraft with only two engines operating and two on the same side at that! Speaking with my tail gunner a couple of years ago, he assured me that it was the smoothest landing I had ever made!’

On 12 July a dozen crews in 57 Squadron at East Kirkby were briefed for an attack on the railway junction at Culmont-Chalindrey. ‘This was part of the work being undertaken to prevent German reinforcements being moved into the battle area in Normandy via the French railway system’ remembers ‘Ginger’ Hammersley. ‘This looked like being a reasonably easy operation. In the bomb bay were eight 1,000lb MC and four 500lb GP bombs. It was 21.45 hours when we lined R-Robert up at the take-off point on the runway. There was a wave from the small crowd of airmen and WAAFs who invariably made the effort to be at the take-off point to see us off. Then we set off down the runway lifting off at 110 mph and headed away to rendezvous with the other aircraft in the force that was to make the attack. The route took us close to the Channel Islands. Way up ahead of us, two aircraft were seen to be approaching and they were immediately identified as German night fighters. Ken Bly quickly manned his front gun turret and opened fire at one of the approaching fighters, a Ju 88, which turned over on its side and went down in a dive with smoke coming out of it. The other Ju 88 veered away and did not return when the mid-upper gunner fired his guns at him. Unfortunately, in the mêlée the bombsight was damaged. Our briefing for attacks on French railway marshalling yards was that we had to be able to guarantee to hit the rails and not the surrounding buildings. With a damaged bombsight this could not be guaranteed so once again we headed back towards base, after part of the bomb load had been jettisoned into the English Channel. Four hours after take-off we landed at East Kirkby. Our claim for a Ju 88 was, at first, declared as a “probable” but later, when other crews confirmed seeing it hit the sea, it was changed to a “kill”. All the other squadron crews made their attack followed by a safe return, although, nine crews were diverted to other airfields. East Kirkby was unable to allow them to land owing to poor weather conditions. After debriefing and an egg and bacon breakfast, I slept well. After lunch, our crew flew R-Robert to test that all was well. The bombsight had been put right and a 20-minute flight was all that we needed to confirm all systems were in good order.

‘At East Kirkby at this time 57 Squadron received a visit from an American crew in the 389th Bombardment Group at Hethel near Norwich. Captain Cobb was the crew commander. My own crew acted as their hosts. On the 15th we were flown to Hethel by Captain Cobb in their B-24 Liberator for a short stay with them. The Americans made a great fuss of us and we were wined and dined in a manner quite unlike anything we had experienced on an RAF unit. “Food glorious food!” They were so well fed. I tucked in and made the most of the experience. The American crews were briefed for an operation to be flown on the morning of the 17th and we went along with them. Then, in the early hours of the 17th, we met Captain Cobb and his crew to fly in the “assembly ship”, a B-24D decorated in brilliant yellow and green bands painted round the fuselage. We were airborne at 05.45 hours and I enjoyed a most fascinating sight as I watched the Group aircraft being called together into formation by means of coloured “Very Lights” whilst the 389th were forming up. In the distance I could see other Groups assembling and gradually coming closer. Then the time came when the group was ready to head out over the North Sea and Captain Cobb dived the B-24 away to starboard and returned to Hethel where we landed after 2 hours 30 minutes flying. Colonel Robert B. Miller, the CO was there to see us return. It was a most welcome breakfast, at which the noisy conversation was an eye opener. The talk was about the crews; planes; whether or not all the aircraft would return; the damage sustained the previous time the group had flown an operation and so on! I would have welcomed a sleep after breakfast but there was so much talk that it was impossible. After lunch, it was time to say our good-byes, Squadron Leader Wyness arrived with his crew to take us back to East Kirkby and our kind of war, and a much different squadron atmosphere.

‘The same evening we were briefed for an attack that was to take place the following morning against German forces in the vicinity of Caen. Seventeen crews were briefed for the attack, which was to take place 2,000 yards in front of the Allied ground forces and aimed at the Monteville steel works where the German forces were strongly entrenched. Mack stood down from flying and Flight Lieutenant J. Simms took his place. This operation would see him complete his tour. P-Peter was “bombed up” with eleven 1,000lb AN-M59 type bombs and four 500lb AN-M64 type bombs. The total force consisted of over 900 aircraft attacking five different villages in the same area. We took off at 03.37 hours heading for the English Channel and then the French coast. Dawn was breaking and we found ourselves being escorted by a Spitfire, the pilot of which had realized we were off track and nudged us over to starboard and into the main force battle order. It was a wonderful sight, over 1,000 aircraft together at one time. On the ground our forces had been warned to keep their heads down and protect their ears as we flew in and made our attack. Later I learned that Wally, my older brother, was down below watching and guessing, correctly, that I was taking part in helping him and his fellows in their struggle to move forward against a very stubborn enemy. Four hours after take-off we landed at East Kirkby ready for debriefing and a good breakfast, only to learn that we were on the battle order for another attack that night.

‘The visit to Hethel followed by the night briefing and preparations for the attack on the steel works, had left me tired and I slept well until called to attend briefing for the night’s attack, on the railway yards at Revigny by ten crews. For this flight we had an extra man in the crew, Flying Officer M. Blank, a pilot who had arrived on the squadron a few days earlier with his crew. This would be his first operation. Ken Bly was sick and Flight Lieutenant J. Honniball took his place. It was a mixed bomb load consisting of ten 1,000lb MC with half-hour delay fuses, two 500lb GP with 72 hour delay fuses and two 500lb GP with half-hour delay fuses. Our O-Orange was well loaded and we were ready for the fray after we had subjected the aircraft to a thorough check late in the afternoon. We took off at 23.00 hours and all went well until we were about 50 miles from the target when simultaneously we heard the rear-gunner open fire as we were struck by bullets and cannon fire from a German night fighter, of which we had received no warning. I heard Mack who usually was a very placid person, say “What the hell’s that?” Ron reacted immediately and commenced evasive action. The enemy gun and cannon fire had set the tail end of the fuselage on fire and we lost a great deal of height, dropping from 19,000 feet to about 12,000 feet before control was regained. A Ju 88 followed us down and as we levelled out he came over the top of our aircraft. “Red” [Flight Sergeant Alan Brown] in his mid-upper gun turret, was alert and watching him and he opened fire and hit the Ju 88 with the full firepower from his guns and the enemy aircraft went down. At this moment, in the organized mêlée, Mack went to the rear of the aircraft carrying a fire extinguisher. As he went past me, I pulled at his right arm and told him to take his parachute, but he failed to hear me. I followed Mack to the rear turret and helped “Goldie” [Pilot Officer Bill Golding RCAF] out of the turret and along the fuselage to the rest bed. His turret was badly damaged and unserviceable. He had suffered bullet wounds as well as serious burns to his feet and legs. His rubber flying boots had started to melt and I cut them away from his feet and legs so that the full extent of the damage to him could be seen. Whilst this was going on, Mack and Esmond were trying to put out the internal and external lights, all of which had switched on. They were fortunate and most of them were extinguished. The intercom had failed and we were only able to contact each other with written notes. Mack gave Ron a course to fly, as it was essential to return to base as soon as possible. I gave Goldie an injection of pain-killing drugs and dressed his burns with the burn dressing gel from the first aid kit. Once I had made him comfortable. I returned to my post at the wireless set, which was still functioning and with Ron’s permission, called up base and gave them details of our predicament, of the need for the Medical Officer and an ambulance to be ready to receive us on arrival. The bombs we carried were jettisoned into the English Channel.

‘The fact that the wireless was still working was something of a miracle, all the radar equipment had been put out of action leaving Mack to navigate us home by dead reckoning. The landing was bumpy and, unbeknown to us, one tyre had been damaged and it burst as the wheels touched the runway. Goldie was soon away to the Medical Reception Centre and from there to the Military Hospital at Rauceby where the crew visited him the next day. Goldie had three toes that were severely damaged, removed. That visit was the last time I saw him. As for Blank, he had been well and truly “blooded”. One crew made an early return with a hydraulic failure in one of the gun turrets; another crew failed to return and was posted as missing and the remainder successfully completed the attack. Following our landing at base we were debriefed and, knowing of the damage we had sustained, the station and base commanders were at the debriefing. A long discussion took place as to whether or not it should be declared our last operation. I had completed the tour having flown 29 operations. The last operation had seen us land at 03.25 hours after a most exciting but exhausting flight of 4 hours 30 minutes. The tour was completed just two days before my 22nd birthday. The past five months had seen me grow from a young excited Sergeant WOp/AG into a man matured by his experiences of the violence of war, with all its suffering, for those in the air and on the ground. The crew was granted leave, but before leaving for our various homes, we had a discussion as to whether or not we should seek to join 617 Squadron. Two of the crew were not too keen, so the idea was abandoned.’²³

At Mildenhall the crew of K-King took part in several more operations in July including, on the 18th, the big attack by 942 aircraft on five fortified villages in the area east of Caen, in support of Operation Goodwood, the British Second Army’s armoured attack. The Luftwaffe was noticeable for its absence and Frank Dengate reported that it was ‘a wonderful prang on target indicators. 5,000 tons of steel – I wouldn’t have liked to be under that lot’. Four of the targets were marked by Oboe and at the fifth target where Oboe failed, the master bomber, Squadron Leader E. K. Cresswell and other Pathfinder crews employed visual methods. In all Bomber Command dropped more than 5,000 tons of bombs from 5,000 – 9,0000 feet for the loss of just five Lancasters and a Halifax, though Frank Dengate recorded that there was ‘lots of flak’. The 16th Luftwaffe Field Division and the 21st Panzer Division were badly affected by the bombing. By way of a change, on 20/21 July Frank Dengate and his crew were part of a force of 147 Lancasters and 11 Mosquitoes that attacked the oil plant at Homburg. Dengate reported that there were ‘plenty of night fighters and medium flak and heavy fighter attacks on the way home’. Twenty Lancasters, including two in 622 Squadron and L for Love in 15 Squadron, were lost on the Homburg raid. Nine Lancasters were shot down on the operation to bomb railway yards at Courtrai²⁴ and seven Halifaxes and one Lancaster failed to return from the strike on the synthetic oil refinery at Bottrop. Nachtjagd shot down an estimated 15 aircraft from the Bottrop/Homberg force.²⁵ One of the Stab III./NJG 1 Bf 110G-4 night fighter crews comprised Hauptmann Martin Drewes, Feldwebel Erich Handke, Bordfunker and Oberfeldwebel Georg ‘Schorsch’ Petz, air gunner. After shooting down a Halifax and trying to down another that disappeared into the night, Drewes positioned the Bf 110 under PB174 of 405 ‘Vancouver’ Squadron RCAF, a PFF unit. Flight Lieutenant J. D. Virtue RCAF, 28 years old, from Toronto, Ontario was flying this Lancaster. Erich Handke recalls what happened next:

‘Schorsch said we were too close but before I could say anything at 50 metres range Drewes aimed at the port inner engine and close to the fuselage (as I could see by the aerial mast on top of the cabin roof). Then it happened. We must have hit the bomb-load because the Lancaster disintegrated into a thousand pieces! Our machine was struck several times and we went down steeply out of control. All around us were white flames and a thousand green stars. The Lancaster must have been a Pathfinder. We had no intercom. We were thrown about. Most of the time I was stuck against the cabin roof. We went down perhaps 1,000 metres (the attack had been at 5,800m) when I said to myself, “It is no use. Drewes can never regain control; I must get out.” I gave two tugs of the roof jettison lever. (Schorsch had done the same at the rear). The rear cabin roof flew off. I pushed off a little to the rear and was caught at once by the slipstream and pulled upwards. My heel just touched the tail. I was clear of the machine and went down, somersaulting. Suddenly there was no more engine noise and briefly I saw our machine and the burning wreckage of the Lancaster going down.²⁶ I was angry that we had been torn out of a beautiful stream where we could have shot down so many more.’²⁷

Frank Dengate’s crew’s next operation was a ‘daylight’ on 22 July in K-King, their old aircraft, when 48 Lancasters and 12 Mosquitoes carried out ‘Oboe leader’ bombing of four weapons’ sites through 10/10ths cloud. 15 Squadron’s aircraft were part of the force that tried to knock out the flying bombs and V-2 rockets at Mont-Candon. ‘There were only eight aircraft in pair’s formation, one behind the other. We formated on two Mosquitoes, which were on a radio beam from England and when they crossed a second beam they dropped their bombs and so did we. I don’t know what the results were, as we were over cloud. There was no flak and no fighters and none of our aircraft were missing.’ This raid was a first for Sergeant Larry Melling in 635 Squadron also. ‘We were assigned to attack a V-1 launching site at Linzeaux but this was a totally different kind of operation. Eight Lancasters were sent in formation with an Oboe-equipped Mosquito and the Mosquito captain instructed us when to drop the bombs. Never having flown anything larger than a Harvard in formation, the three-hour flight, keeping station with the other aircraft, was a major effort and I am sure that I also lost at least 10lb in perspiration juggling the controls to stay in position. The raid was apparently a success because the same tactics were repeated five days later. In the meantime, we had completed night raids to Kiel and Stuttgart.’

On 23/24 July, Kiel was the first major raid on a German city for two months and was the target for 519 Lancasters and 100 Halifaxes. The raid caught Nachtjagd napping and only four aircraft, all of them Lancasters, were shot down and only one other bomber (a Halifax) was lost on the other bomber raids that same night. The first of three heavy raids on Stuttgart, over a period of five nights, went ahead on the night of 24/25 July when 461 Lancasters and 153 Halifaxes were dispatched to the city which, being situated in a series of narrow valleys, had largely escaped the attentions of Bomber Command. Stuttgart had been the destination for Frank Dengate’s crew on their first operation on 15 March. Now he and some of K-King’s crew were on their 31st trip. The force encountered heavy icing at 14,000 feet and they had to drop down to get rid of it before climbing back up to 19,000 feet at the target. Many aircraft turned back. Seventeen Lancasters and four Halifaxes were lost but K-King’s crew made it back to Mildenhall. Flying Officer Joe Ell had now done 28 trips and Sergeant Fred Coney and Sergeant Doug Davis had completed 29 trips each while Bob Kitchin had also flown 28 trips.²⁸

On 25 July 90 or more Lancaster crews in 5 Group were briefed for a daylight raid on St-Cyr airfield and a German Air Force Signals Depot (Philips factory) on the southern outskirts of Paris. Another 93 aircraft including 81 Lancasters of 5 Group were allocated flying bomb sites and the Watten storage site. At Skellingthorpe Harry Watkins’ crew names appeared once again on the Battle Order sheet in the Squadron office. O-Orange became airborne from Skelly’s main runway at 17.30 hours and they soon joined up with other Lancasters to form a loose gaggle of 97 aircraft flying over the English Channel before heading inland for the Paris area. Edgar Ray crawled past flight engineer Fred Jowitt through the hole into the bomb-aimer’s compartment in the nose of the Lancaster. ‘This area’ says Ray, ‘was very restricted due to the bulky packages of “Window” stacked inside. The weather was fine with continuous cloud cover at 12,000 feet and once in the target area the raid soon developed into a very concentrated attack with aircraft jockeying for position on their bombing run. At 19.55 hours we commenced our run up to the target aiming point through a barrage of moderate flak. From my position in the nose of the aircraft I could see many Lancasters flying close by, releasing their deadly cargo. Moments later I had the target in my bombsight and pressed the tit to release our load of 11,450lb HEs. Within seconds disaster struck, as I felt our aircraft shudder and then fall away to starboard in an uncontrolled dive. The skipper hauled back on the control column and managed to regain control before calling over the aircraft’s intercom for a damage report from all crew positions. Ken Johnson our mid-upper gunner reported that we had been bombed from above and that a large section of the starboard wing tip was missing. Further investigation revealed that a second bomb had broken off the starboard tail fin and rudder, while a third had removed the whole of the rear turret carrying away Jack Foy our rear-gunner. While the skipper fought to control our severely damaged aircraft, Johnny Ware, the wireless op reported our predicament and 5 Group Flying Control diverted us to RAF Wickenby, eight miles north-east of Lincoln, for an emergency landing. Fortunately we managed to get down without any further mishap. This was our 10th operation and the loss of Jack under such circumstances was a big shock to all of us. From that day on I began to wonder if the rest of us would finish our tour in one piece.’²⁹

On 25/26 July 412 Lancasters and 138 Halifaxes returned to Stuttgart and other large forces bombed Wanne-Eickel and flying bomb sites in France.³⁰ On 26/27 July 178 Lancasters and nine Mosquitoes of 5 Group attacked rail yards at Givors for the loss of four Lancasters and two Mosquitoes.³¹ Two nights later, 494 Lancasters and two Mosquitoes hit Stuttgart again. There was a bright moon and German fighters intercepted the bombers over France on the outward flight. Thirty-nine Lancasters were shot down. Eighteen Halifaxes and four Lancasters were lost in a separate raid on Hamburg by 307 aircraft, 106 of them Lancasters, in the first heavy attack on the city since the Battle of Hamburg just a year earlier. It was as if the great fire in the summer of 1943 had not been cataclysmic enough but before the winter set in about half of the evacuees returned to their proud domain, factories reopened and commerce resumed. Some had hope restored by the regeneration among the ruins that autumn of a second flowering of many trees and bushes, particularly chestnuts and lilacs, that had been burned in the summer raids.³² A summer on and this time round the bombing was not well concentrated. The Germans estimated that only 120 aircraft bombed in the city area, with no recognizable aiming point but this raid, one more in the long series of catastrophes that befell the city, was purely to snuff out the civilian population once more. Though western and harbour areas received the most bombs, a large proportion of the attack fell on areas devastated in 1943. A total of 265 people were killed and more than 17,000 Hamburgers had to flee or were evacuated from their dwellings, many of which were temporary wooden accommodation, garden sheds and basements of ruined homes damaged in this raid or those previously.³³

It was for his role of ‘Primary Blind Marker’ over Hamburg this night that Squadron Leader H. F. Slade DFC RAAF of 156 Squadron in 8 (PFF) Group won the immediate award of the DSO. The ‘Primary Blind Marker’ was another PFF innovation and had the responsibility of making a run over the target and releasing markers entirely by radar methods. The equipment used enabled the navigator to see a ‘picture’ of the ground when above cloud. All bombing attacks at night above cloud-covered targets were carried out using this method; the marking aircraft dropping sky flares, which the main force used as an aiming point. While running in to attack the target with bomb doors open, Slade’s Lancaster was heavily engaged by flak and two-thirds of the port aileron and corresponding wing area almost up to the main spar was shot away. The aircraft went into a spiral and became almost out of control before Slade could regain partial control. Then the bombs were dropped and course set for base. The pilot could see from his cockpit that a large section of the upper wing was projecting vertically upwards and acting as an air brake, making control of the aircraft very difficult. All turns had to be made to starboard by throttling back the starboard engines. Crossing the enemy coast, the aircraft was again heavily fired on by the ground defences. Slade took evasive action and the violent motions of the aircraft broke off the vertical section of the wing, restoring a certain amount of aileron movement and increasing control. When the bomber was crossing the North Sea the undercarriage was lowered, and the stalling speed was found to be 140 – 145 knots. Slade requested an emergency landing at Woodbridge and made a direct approach, touching down at 140 knots. The port tyre had been holed by flak and, soon after touching down, the port undercarriage, then the starboard undercarriage, collapsed. Although the aircraft was wrecked the crew got out with only a few cuts and bruises.³⁴

After these raids the bombers reverted to tactical targets, bombing the V-weapon sites at Thiverny, Bois de Cassan, near Paris, Forêt de Nieppe, Forêt de Mormal and Hazebrouck both by day and by night. On 3 August 1,114 aircraft – 601 of them Lancasters, made bombing attacks on these targets and Trossy St Maxim flying bomb stores in northern France. Six Lancasters were lost on the raid on Trossy St Maxim and one from the Bois de Cassan raid, which received a direct hit from an anti-aircraft shell and blew up. The aircraft and its bomb load erupted in a huge pall of dense black smoke centred by bright reddish orange flames. Several minutes later, when the dense black smoke began to disperse, a vacant space could be observed where the Lancaster had been. During the daylight attack on a suspected V-1 storage depot at Trossy St Maxim on 4 August, Acting Squadron Leader Ian Willoughby Bazalgette DFC RAFVR of 635 Squadron, the ‘master bomber’ who was on his second tour showed great gallantry. Bazalgette was 26 years old, born in Calgary, Alberta, and was brought up in England where he joined the army in 1940 before transferring to the RAF in 1941. His Lancaster was badly hit by flak just short of the target and both starboard engines were put out of action, the wing and fuselage set on fire and the bomb-aimer seriously wounded. Bazalgette however, pressed on to the target while the crew tried to douse the fire and he dropped his markers. With only one engine still running and the starboard wing a mass of flame the order to bale out was given. The bomb-aimer was incapacitated and the mid-upper gunner had been overcome by fumes and were unable to bale out so Bazalgette put the aircraft down in a field near the French village of Senantes but the Lancaster exploded, killing all three on board. When the surviving crew returned to the UK they told the story and Bazalgette was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross on 17 August 1945.³⁵

August 1944 saw Sergeant Larry Melling and 635 Squadron involved in several support operations, including the ‘Falaise Gap’ and, among other operations, their first daylight trip to a target in the Ruhr – Homberg.³⁶ ‘The month also saw me having a test exercise as a “blind-marker” with the Squadron Navigation Officer. At this time I had completed 26 operations and was presumably now considered safe enough to be entrusted with the job of actually marking a target for the main force, although some considerable time was to elapse before I was given that job.’

At the beginning of August 1944 squadrons were informed that a decision had been made to commence a ‘round the clock’ bombing campaign against Berlin. Instead of returning to bases in Britain after bombing Berlin, they were to continue their operational flight eastwards, to land at pre-arranged bases in Russia where the Lancasters and Halifaxes would be refuelled, bombed up and re-armed for the return flight. Meanwhile, the US 8th Air Force would commence their operational daytime flights to Berlin and Russia to land at the bases vacated by the RAF aircrews on their return flight to Berlin and Britain. Arrangements were made but after a few false starts, the operation was scrubbed. Apparently, Stalin himself had cancelled the operation because of supposed difficulties of aircraft recognition between unfamiliar British and American bomber aircraft, by Russian aircraft. It is possible that if Stalin had agreed to the original operation codenamed Thunderclap, upon Berlin in August 1944, Dresden might possibly have escaped destruction later in the war.

Flight Lieutenant G. A. C. Overgaauw of 207 Squadron, one of several Dutch pilots flying Lancasters in the RAF, left Spilsby on 15 August for a raid on Deelen airfield in his native Holland, with eleven 1,000lb and four 500lb bombs. It was the Amsterdam born Dutchman’s 33rd operation. A direct hit on the bomb bay of his Lancaster caused the aircraft to explode in mid-air and crash near Arnhem killing all the crew. On the last day of August, when over 600 aircraft, 418 of them Lancasters, bombed nine V-2 rocket store sites in northern France, six Lancasters were lost. One of them was a 166 Squadron aircraft piloted by Flying Officer E. B. Tutty RAAF, which was shot down bombing Agenville. Tutty and one other member of the crew evaded and two men were killed. The three others including the W/Op, Flying Officer Donald Pleasance, were captured. Pleasance had been issued with a packet of condoms to protect important parts of the wireless set. When he was searched the condoms were discovered by the Germans and one of them said, ‘You vil not be needing zeeze now!’³⁷

Aircrew became very sensitive to the changing moods of a station, which swung from being easy and light hearted when operations were off, often when the weather was bad, to a palpable tension when the operation was ‘on’ and the target was known. At Elsham Wolds, high above the flat fenlands of Lincolnshire, bounded by the Humber Estuary and the Weir Dyke to the north, when ops were scrubbed a wave of relaxation spread across a station. Buses or trains were provided to take crews into Scunthorpe or Brigg. Scunthorpe was a grimy steel town, lying in the shadow of vast slag heaps. There were three pubs, the Bluebell, the Oswald and the Crosby. It was generally accepted that aircrew NCOs used the Bluebell. It would not have been out of place in a Western. It had a large, open saloon bar with a sawdust-covered floor and a raised wooden platform in the corner on which a man in bowler hat played non-stop. It only needed busty, silk stockinged girls to complete the illusion but the ladies provided did their best and this made up in humour what it lacked in propriety.³⁸

When ops were ‘on’ the wind that came out of the dark sky to the east filled the windsock in the signal square and lifted the pennant on the runway control van. It chilled the airmen gathered in groups on the perimeter track and ruffled the hair of the WAAFs who huddled in the shelter of the control tower. It also helped the Lancasters of 103 and 576 Squadrons take-off, disappearing towards the dark sea, heavy with their fuel and bomb loads. Those off duty would watch them taxi out. Most had their top hatches open and helmeted figures would be waving at those on the ground. L-Love was known for the lavatory paper, which streamed from the open hatches and the cloth caps pulled down over the helmets of the Australian crew. To them the lavatory paper and the cloth caps were as much an essential to their safe return as the efficiency of the crew and the aircraft. One day, with the crews out at their Lancs ready for the off, they were stood down for an hour. WAAFs were told to take refreshments out to them. One of the WAAFs saw them standing round waiting, joking while she poured out the tea. They were calling each other, saying things like, ‘The Germans have got it in for you tonight but don’t worry, we’ll eat your egg and bacon for you.’ There was always a fried meal waiting for them when they returned from ops. The WAAF could not stand it. It was not funny and she refused to go out to waiting aircrews again, it upset her that much.³⁹

Notes

1

One thousand and twelve RAF aircraft bombed coastal batteries; 110 aircraft of 100 Group carried out extensive bomber-support operations. Two Halifaxes and one Lancaster were lost. Twenty-four ABC-equipped Lancasters of 101 Squadron patrolled all known night fighter approaches. (Two Intruders and 1 ABC Lancaster were lost.) Fifty-eight aircraft flew diversion operations. Thirty-one Mosquitoes bombed Osnabrück without loss. In all RAF Bomber Command flew 1,211 sorties. Operations Taxable and Glimmer, both devised by Wing Commander E. I. Dickie, created ‘Phantom Fleets’ on enemy radar screens. Taxable involved 16 Lancasters of 617 Squadron and was a joint RN/RAF operation aimed at making the Germans believe that an invasion force was attacking the French coast between Dieppe and Cap d’Antifer. Attacks on enemy radar installations had all but destroyed their effectiveness, but care had been taken to leave enough operational, to allow the Germans to deceive themselves that their radars were showing an invasion fleet. Twenty-four Lancasters of 101 Squadron and five B-17 Flying Fortresses of 214 Squadron, carrying 82 radio jammers between them, obliterated the German night fighter frequencies for more than five hours. One Lancaster was shot down.

2

‘The final raid of my tour of operations was a few days later on 14 and 15 June when we attacked a German Panzer (tank) force concentrated at night, hiding under cover of trees in a wood. With information from the French Resistance we knew exactly where they were. On 17 June my replacement, Wing Commander Donaldson RAAF, arrived and the next day I started my end of tour leave.’

3

On 5/6 June Luftwaffe activity was almost non-existent, putting up just 59 fighters to intercept the invasion forces but only two Nachtjäger submitted one claim each. Finally, Oberleutnant Helmut Eberspächer, a fighter-bomber pilot of 3./SKG 10 flying a Fw 190G-3 claimed three Lancasters at Isigny and Carentan while Feldwebel Eisele of the same unit claimed another Lancaster at Isigny-Lessay-Vire.

4

On 6/7 June 1,065 RAF bombers dropped 3,488 tons of bombs on rail and road centres on the lines of communication behind the Normandy battle area for the loss of 10 Lancasters and a Halifax.

5

The other two crews were Flying Officer C. D. Woodley RCAF in A-Apple and Flight Lieutenant W. E. Palmer in M-Mother. There were no survivors from either crew. 622 Squadron lost two Lancasters. Pilot Officer J. E. Hall in E-Easy and Flight Lieutenant R. G. Godfrey RAAF in C-Charlie both failed to return and there were no survivors from either crew.

6

K report. Nachtjagd claimed 21 Lancasters and Halifaxes with Hauptmann Paul Zorner Gruppenkommandeur of III./NJG 5 being credited with three Halifaxes and a Lancaster in the Dreux area to take his score to 52. Leutnant Walter Briegleb of 10./NJG 3 was credited with four Lancasters (three in the greater Paris area, his 4th victim crashing 25 km E-S-E of Rouen) to take his score to eight confirmed victories.

7

On 11/12 June 329 aircraft attacked railway targets at Èvreux, Massy-Palaiseau again, Nantes and Tours for the loss of three Lancasters and a Halifax.

8

Pilot Officer Andrew Charles Mynarski RCAF was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross for his bravery on the Cambrai raid. His Lancaster, of 419 Squadron, was attacked by a night fighter and set on fire and the crew were ordered to abandon the aircraft. Mynarski, who was the mid-upper gunner, was about to jump when he saw that the rear-gunner was trapped in his turret and he went through fierce flames to help. The rear turret was so badly jammed that it could not be freed and the trapped gunner eventually waved Mynarski away. By the time he left the aircraft, Mynarski’s clothing and parachute were on fire and he died while being cared for by French civilians soon after he landed. The rear-gunner was fortunate to survive the crash and his report on Mynarski’s courage led to the award of the Victoria Cross. Pilot Officer Mynarski was born in Winnipeg and joined the RCAF in 1941 as a WOp/AG. He was posted to England in 1943 and was commissioned in 1944. The 28 year old Canadian is buried in the small cemetery at Meharicourt, east of Amiens.

9

Hauptmann Gerhard Friedrich, Staffelkapitän, 1./NJG 6 and Hauptmann Joachim Böhner of St.I./NJG 6 at Deelen both claimed a Lancaster from the Gelsenkirchen force, probably LM158 of 90 Squadron, which crashed 2 km W of Laag Soeren. Friedrich, who was awarded the Ritterkreuz on 15 March 1945, was killed in action on 16/17 March when his Ju 88G was hit when it collided with, or was destroyed by, the explosion of a 576 Squadron Lancaster he was attacking. Oberleutnant Lau, Unteroffizier Sarzio and Leutnant Gottfried Hanneck of II./NJG 1 also operating from Deelen, each claimed a Viermot destroyed. Oberleutnant Hanneck shot down five Lancasters and Halifaxes in June/July.

10

Lancaster LL678 of 514 Squadron.

11

On 9 August we got confirmation of a crash of a Lancaster near Warminghaven, 30kms east of Arnhem. Further confirmation by the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM or Reich Air Ministry) followed in February 1945.

12

Six Lancasters were lost on the Lens raid. Another 297 aircraft attacked ammunition and fuel dumps without loss.

13

Another bomber force comprising 321 Halifaxes, Lancasters and Mosquitoes raided the synthetic oil plant at Sterkrade/ Holten. No aircraft were lost on the raids in Northern France but 31 RAF aircraft were missing from the operation to Sterkrade/Holten though Zahme Sau claimed 37 kills. The route of the bomber stream passed near a German night-fighter beacon at Bocholt just 30 miles ftrom Sterkrade and the Jägerleitoffizier (JLO, or GCI-controller) had chosen this beacon as the holding point for his night fighters. Twenty-two of the bombers that were missing were Halifaxes.

14

Three hundred and seventeen aircraft attacked railway targets at Aulnoye, Montdidier and St-Martin-l’Hortier. One Lancaster was lost on the Montdidier raid. All targets were covered by cloud and the master bombers at Aulnoye and Montdidier ordered their forces to stop bombing after only seven and 12 aircraft had bombed respectively.

15

The losses, 27.8 per cent of the force, were all shot down by Zahme Sau. I./NJG 1 was credited with 16 kills that were claimed by eight Owl crews and II./NJG I received credit for six victories.

16

In June 1946 the Germans responsible for the shooting were put on trial in Essen and four were sentenced to death.

17

Two of the squadron’s Lancasters and their experienced crews, failed to return. Flight Lieutenant R. R. Cowan’s crew had completed 31 trips, plus three ‘one-thirds’, while Pilot Officer A. A. W. Berryman’s crew had completed 16. See 1944 The Air war Over Europe June 1st-30th by John Foreman. (ARP, 1999)

18

Cheshire would fly his 100th op on 8 July and he was withdrawn from operations.

19

Or 8.7 per cent of the force. Thirteen Zahme Sau crews were credited with 21 Viermot kills.

20

A primed cookie bomb was on board and the aircraft remained in the field for three days until it was considered safe to work on. PB112 K-King, which was repaired, later flew with 195 Squadron and was lost on a day raid on Witten on 12 December 1944.

21

The Canadian 1st and British 2nd Armies were held up by a series of fortified village strongpoints north of the city and the first plan was for Bomber Command to bomb these villages but, because of the proximity of Allied troops and the possibility of bombing error, the bombing area was moved back nearer to Caen, covering a stretch of open ground and the northern edge of the city. The master bomber, Wing Commander S. P. ‘Pat’ Daniels of 35 Squadron, orchestrated a highly accurate raid and 2,276 tons of bombs were dropped. Only three aircraft were lost of the 447 ‘heavies’ and 20 Oboe-equipped Mosquitoes dispatched. By the evening of 8 July the whole of Caen, north of the Orne, was in British hands.

22

ND811 F2-T which, after the two engines were changed, was returned to Downham Market and continued to fly until it was shot down on 4 August at Trossy St Maxim. The pilot, Squadron Leader Ian Bazalgette, was to lose his life and be awarded a posthumous VC.

23

In August Pilot Officer William Henry Golding RCAF and Mack MacKinnon were awarded the DFC and ‘Ginger’ Hammersley the DFM. In September Ken Bly was awarded the DFC. Flight Sergeant Alan ‘Red’ Brown was later awarded the DFM.

24

Two of which were destroyed on their way back by Obstlt Lent, Kommodore NJG 3 off Dover for his 106th and 107th victories.

25

In total, 971 sorties were flown on 20/21 July for the loss of 38 aircraft. Eighty-seven heavies bombed V-weapon sites at Ardouval and Wizernes and 302 Lancasters and 15 Mosquitoes bombed rail targets at Courtrai. One hundred and fifty-three heavies and 13 Mosquitoes attacked the synthetic oil refinery at Bottrop and 147 Lancasters and 11 Mosquitoes attacked an oil plant at Homberg. Twenty-one Lancasters and 7 Halifaxes failed to return from the Bottrop/Homberg raid. 75 Squadron RNZAF at Mepal lost seven of its 25 Lancasters.

26

PB174 LQ-P crashed at Tubbergen, north-east of Almelo. Virtue and six crew were killed in action when the aircraft exploded. The Dutch Resistance hid sole survivor, Flight Sergeant M. S. Stoyko RCAF, rear-gunner. Drewes’ Bf 110G-4 crashed near the Dutch-German border. Feldwebel Erich Handke’s 58th and 59th Abschussbeteiligungen earned him the rare award for a Bordfunker of the Ritterkreuz on 27 July.

27

Handke, Drewes and Petz baled out safely near Twente where their 8th Staffel was stationed. Oberleutnant Dietrich Schmidt, who had also downed two Lancasters (HK569 of 75 Squadron and LL859 of 622 Squadron, picked them up and he drove them to the nearest hospital. Schorsch, who had a bomb splinter in the left forearm and a flesh wound in the right, had his arms put into plaster casts. Drewes had released his harness straps and he was catapulted out through the cockpit roof which was torn off and left hanging around his neck. He had only managed to lose it with some difficulty and had dislocated his arm in the process but, at a farmhouse shortly after landing, it had snapped into place again when he leaned on a table. On 27 July Hauptmann Martin Drewes received the Ritterkreuz for his 48 victories. He added one more kill to his total, on 3/4 March 1945. He was decorated with the Oak Leaves to his Ritterkreuz three weeks before the capitulation of Nazi Germany.

28

Frank Dengate adds: ‘Cantrell, Ell and myself were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross whereas the other members of our crew got no recognition although they took the same risks. I was asked to stay on as Squadron Leader Flight Command with 15 Squadron but with my crew split up I had had enough for the present. I took 14 days glorious leave and early in August I was posted to 29 OTU. Before returning to Australia I was posted to 467 Squadron RAAF at Waddington and Metheringham, where we trained to go to Okinawa to attack Japan but the Yanks dropped the atomic bomb and consequently probably saved my life and the lives of my crew as well as thousands of others.’

29

Pilot Officer Carson ‘Jack’ Foy is buried in the local cemetery in Fontenay-le-Fleary in Versailles. His grieving parents in Canada received a heartfelt and moving letter of condolence from Harold Watkins who said that he ‘had never found him wanting in courage and the high principles for which [they] were striving’. He ended his letter, ‘it is a terribly high price we are having to pay and I have lost many close friends. I only hope to God that when peace does come the ideals, the way of life that we’re fighting for, will become a lasting reality . . . only this could justify the sacrifices that are being made today. I can’t say more.’ Dixie Dean, the sergeant in charge of the crew’s replacement aircraft, had continuously serviced an aircraft with the code QR-X X-Ray since 1939 when the Squadron flew Hampdens. Edgar Ray recalls that LL911 served them well for the rest of our tour but was eventually lost on 8/9 February 1945 while carrying out its 99th operation with the Squadron. Thundering Through the Clear Air: No. 61 (Lincoln Imp) Squadron At War by Derek Brammer (Tucann Books, 1997).

30

Eight Lancasters and four Halifaxes were lost on the Stuttgart raid and one Mosquito Intruder failed to return.

31

Two of the Lancasters were claimed by Leutnant Otto Huchler of 2./NJG 2 for his first two victories. Nachtjagd units intercepted the stream on the outward flight and, aided by the bright moonlight, shot down 39 Lancasters. On 20/21 July II./NJG1 destroyed three Viermots (two by Unteroffizier Sarzio, and Lancaster III NE164 of 550 Squadron, which crashed at Ottrott near Strassburg by Oberleutnant Gottfried Hanneck, Staffelkapitän, 6./NJG 1.

32

The Battle of Hamburg: Allied Bomber Forces Against A German City in 1943 by Martin Middlebrook (Penguin, 1980).

33

The Bomber Command War Diaries by Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt (Midland, 1985).

34

Royal Australian Air Force Overseas (Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1946).

35

Trossy St Maxim, which cost two Lancasters, was thought to be a V-1 storage site but after the war captured German documents revealed that it was a dummy site, as was Bois de Cassan.

36

On 27 August, when 243 aircraft were dispatched in the first Bomber Command daylight raid to be flown since 12 August 1941, when 54 Blenheims of 2 Group attacked the power stations at Cologne for the loss of 10 aircraft.

37

He was incarcerated in Stalag Luft I, Barth. Post war Pleasance became a major film star and he appeared as Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond film, You Only Live Twice and as a RAF POW at Stalag Luft III in The Great Escape. Donald Pleasance OBE died in France on 2 February 1995.

38

Pilot Officer Peter Beechey writing in Not Just Another Milk Run; The Mailly-le-Camp Bomber Raid by Molly Burkett & Geoff Gilbert (Barny Books, 2004).

39

Lilly Taylor and Peter Beechey writing in Burkett and Gilbert, op. cit.