The 78 Sqdn left from Breighton at 1944-04-25 at 21:45. Loc or duty Karlsruhe
He flew with a Handley Page Halifax (type III, serial LV958, code EY-O).
Campaign report of the USAAF:
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS
(Eighth Air Force): Mission 317 Part 1: 554 bombers and 719 fighters are dispatched to hit marshalling yards and airfields in France and Germany; 7 bombers and 2 fighters are lost; the bombers make no Luftwaffe aircraft claims.
1. 199 B-24s are dispatched to the marshalling yard at Mannheim, Germany; 7 bomb the primary, 16 bomb the marshalling yard at Landau, Germany and 8 hit targets of opportunity; 5 B-24s are lost and 26 damaged; casualties are 1 KIA, 4 WIA and 49 MIA.
2. 229 B-17s are dispatched to Nancy/Essay Airfield (42 bomb) and Metz/ Frascaty Airfield (98 bomb), France and 2 hit targets of opportunity; 2 B-17s are lost and 33 damaged; casualties are 1 KIA, 3 WIA and 20 MIA.
3. 121 of 126 B-17s hit Dijon/Longvic Airfield, France; 29 B-17s are damaged; 2 airman are WIA.
Escort is provided by 177 P-38s, 296 P-47s and 246 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-51s; the fighters claim 5-0-1 Luftwaffe aircraft in the air and 29-7-42 on the ground; details are: P-38s claim 5-0-9 aircraft, 1 P-38 is damaged beyond repair and 2 damaged, no casualties; P-47s claim 5-0-8 aircraft; 3 P-47s are damaged; 1 pilot is KIA; P-51s claim 24-7-26 aircraft, 2 P-51s are lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 1 damaged, 2 pilots are MIA.
Mission 317 Part 2: 27 of 28 B-24s bomb V-weapons sites at Wizerenes, France without loss.
Escort is provided by 40 P-47s.
Mission 318: 6 of 6 B-17s drop 4.2 million leaflets on 20 towns in France including Calais, Metz, Blainville, Paris, Mulhouse and Reims without loss.
852d, 853d, 854th and 855th Bombardment Squadrons (Heavy), 491st Bombardment Group (Heavy), move from North Pickenham to Metfield, England with B-24s; first mission is 2 Jun.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS
(Ninth Air Force): 240 B-26s and 69 A-20s bomb V-weapon sites in the coastal area of France and gun positions at Le Treport, Vareneville-sur-Mer, Fontenay-sur-Mer/Crisbec, Ault, Fecamp, Houlgate and Saint-Pierre-du-Mont, France.
About 150 P-47s dive-bomb airfields in France and Belgium.
Around 175 B-26s are forced to abort missions because of bad weather.
HQ 441st Troop Carrier Group and 99th, 100th and 301st Troop Carrier Squadrons move from Langar to Merryfield, England with C-47s.
Campaign report of the RAF:
24/25 April 1944
Karlsruhe: 637 aircraft - 369 Lancasters, 259 Halifaxes, 9 Mosquitos - of all groups except No 5 Group. 19 aircraft - 11 Lancasters, 8 Halifaxes - lost, 3.0 per cent of the force. Cloud over the target and a strong wind which pushed the Pathfinders too far north spoiled this attack. Only the northern part of Karlsruhe was seriously damaged and most of the bombs fell outside the city. Mannheim, 30 miles to the north, recorded a raid by approximately 100 aircraft on this night and Darmstadt, Ludwigshafen and Heidelberg were also hit by aircraft which failed to find the main target.
Munich: 234 Lancasters and 16 Mosquitos of No 5 Group and 10 Lancasters of No 1 Group in another No 5 Group method raid on a major German target. 9 Lancasters were lost, 3.5 per cent of the force. The marking and controlling plan worked well and accurate bombing fell in the centre of the city. The intense flak and searchlight defences did not prevent the low-flying Mosquito markers from carrying out their task properly and none was seriously damaged.
165 OTU aircraft carried out a diversionary sweep over the North Sea to a point 75 miles off the German coast. 23 Mosquitos bombed Düsseldorf; 6 Lancasters of No 617 Squadron dropped flares and target indicators over Milan as a diversion for the Munich raid; No 100 Group flew 11 RCM, 21 Serrate and 8 Intruder sorties. 2 Wellingtons were lost from the OTU sweep.
4 G-H Stirlings to Chambly railway depot, 18 Halifaxes minelaying off Channel ports and in the Frisians, 7 aircraft on Resistance operations. No aircraft lost.
Total effort for the night: 1,160 sorties, 30 aircraft (2.6 per cent) lost.
25/26 April 1944
4 Mosquitos to Cologne, 25 Stirlings minelaying off the French coast, 9 OTU sorties. No losses.
With thanks to the RAF and USAAF.net!
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