The 97 Sqdn left from Bourn at 1943-08-28 at 21:50. Loc or duty Nurnberg

On Saturday 28 August 1943, a member of the 97 Sqdn, Flight Sergeant H A Pond, took off from Bourn in the United Kingdom. His mission is mentioned elsewhere on Back to Normandy. 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 21:50.

He flew with a Avro Lancaster (type III, serial JA707, code OF-V).

Campaign report of the USAAF:

27 August 1943 (Eighth Air Force):: VIII Bomber Command Mission 87: 224 B-17's are dispatched to the German rocket-launching site construction at Watten, France; 187 hit the target at 1846-1941 hours; they claim 7-0-6 Luftwaffe aircraft; 4 B-17's are lost, 1 is damaged beyond repair and 98 damaged; casualties are 1 KIA, 18 WIA and 32 MIA. The mission escort consists of 173 P-47's; they claim 8-1-2 Luftwaffe aircraft; 1 P-47 is lost and the pilot is listed as MIA. This is the first of the Eighth Air Force's missions against V-weapon sites (later designated NOBALL targets).

VIII Air Support Command Missions 36A & 36B: Two missions are scheduled to targets in France: 1. 36 B-26's are dispatched to the Poix Nord Airfield; 35 hit the target at 0826 hours; there are no losses or casualties. 2. 21 B-26's are dispatched to the Rouen Power Station but the mission is aborted because of bad weather and extremely heavy enemy fighter opposition. HQ 356th Fighter Group and it's 360th Fighter Squadron arrive at Goxhill, England from the US with P-47's.

The squadron will fly it's first combat mission on 15 Oct. The 77th and 79th Fighter Squadrons, 20th Fighter Group, arrive at Kings Cliffe, England from the US with P-38's. The squadrons will fly their first mission on 28 Dec 43.

Campaign report of the RAF:

27/28 August 1943

674 aircraft - 349 Lancasters, 221 Halifaxes, 104 Stirlings - to Nuremburg. 33 aircraft - 11 of each type on the raid - lost, 4.9 per cent of the force.

The marking for this raid was based mainly on H2S. 47 of the Pathfinder H2S aircraft were ordered to check their equipment by dropping a 1,000-lb bomb on Heilbronn while flying to Nuremberg. 28 Pathfinder aircraft were able to carry out this order. Nuremberg was found to be free of cloud but it was very dark. The initial Pathfinder markers were accurate but a creepback quickly developed which could not be stopped because so many Pathfinder aircraft had difficulties with their H2S sets. The Master Bomber could do little to persuade the Main Force to move their bombing forward; only a quarter of the crews could hear his broadcasts.

47 aircraft minelaying in the Frisians and off La Pallice, Lorient and St Nazaire, 10 OTU sorties. 1 Wellington minelayer lost.

With thanks to the RAF and USAAF.net!

This record can also be found on the maps of Back to Normandy with Google coordinates. You can find the maps by clicking on this link on this location.

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