The 61 Sqdn left from Syerston at 1943-04-13 at 20:39

On Tuesday 13 April 1943, a member of the 61 Sqdn, Sergeant V A Rimmer, took off from Syerston in the United Kingdom. His mission is mentioned elsewhere on WW2 History Europe. You can find the other details of this mission by searching here. Training and cargo flights are not separately mentioned as a mission. The plane left at 20:39.

He flew with a Avro Lancaster (type III, serial ED717, code QR-S).

Campaign report of the USAAF:

No report

Campaign report of the RAF:

13 April 1943

24 Venturas bombed railway targets at Abbeville and Caen but most of the bombs missed their targets. No Venturas lost.

13/14 April 1943

208 Lancasters and 3 Halifaxes bombed the dock area of La Spezia and caused heavy damage. 4 Lancasters were lost and 3 more, either damaged or in mechanical difficulty, flew on to land at Allied airfields in North Africa. It is believed that this was the first occasion that the recently captured North African airfields were used for Bomber Command aircraft in distress. The 3 Lancasters flew back to England later.

6 Mosquitos of No 105 Squadron, carried out nuisance raids to Bremen, Hamburg and Wilhelmshaven, 2 aircraft being sent to each target. These were the first non-Oboe Mosquito night raids and were the forerunners of Light Night Striking Force operations; the Germans hated the nuisance and harassing effect of the Mosquito raids and could rarely shoot down any of these fast, high-flying aircraft. The Mosquito was later modified to carry a 4,000lb bomb as far as Berlin - a favourite Mosquito target - and, in winter, individual Mosquitos were sometimes able to make 2 flights to Berlin under the cover of darkness in the same night, changing crews after the first landing.

10 Lancasters minelaying off Germany, 18 OTU sorties. 1 OTU Wellington was lost in the sea.

With thanks to the RAF and USAAF.net!

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