The story
2 Whitleys and 1 Hampden to Osnabrck and Berlin but Berlin was not reached. No losses but 1 Whitley crashed in England.
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7 Blenheims on uneventful sea sweeps.
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GERMANY, ITALY, OCCUPIED COUNTRIES
139 aircraft to many targets, 30 Hampdens to Berlin being the largest raid. 1 Hampden lost and 3 Whitleys returning from the most distant target ditched in the sea.
A Whitley of 58 Squadron, based at Linton-on-Ouse, was shot down by a German Intruder on this night and crashed near Thornaby-on-Tees. The Whitley had taken off to bomb the Skoda Works at Pilsen, in Czechoslovakia. The pilot, Pilot Officer E. H. Brown, and 3 other members of the crew were killed and the only survivor was injured. This was the first known success against a Bomber Command aircraft by a German Intruder over the mainland of Britain, though several German pilots had already claimed bombers shot down on the routes over the North Sea. The successful German pilot was Hauptmann Karl Hulshoff of I/NJG 2, the specialist German Intruder unit at that time. Hulshoff claimed the Whitley as a 'Hereford'; he survived the war.
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