The 405 Sqdn left from Gransden Lodge at 1944-06-12 at 22:10. Loc or duty Tours
He flew with a Avro Lancaster (type III, serial ND344, code LQ-V).
Campaign report of the USAAF:
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS
(Eighth Air Force): Mission 407: With bad weather over top priority targets in Germany, 1,442 bombers are dispatched against airfields and landing grounds in NE France and rail and road bridges on the Brest Peninsula; 691 of 769 B-17s and 586 of 673 B-24s hit 16 airfields and 6 railroad bridges in the Rennes and St Nazaire area; they claim 1-1-0 Luftwaffe aircraft; 6 B-17s and 2 B-24s are lost; 1 B-17 and 2 B-24s are damaged beyond repair; and 188 B-17s and 52 B-24s are damaged; 7 airmen are KIA, 14 WIA and 58 MIA.
988 fighter sorties are flown with the loss of 16 aircraft; 15 pilots are MIA:
1. 234 P-38s, 80 P-47s and 201 P-51s fly escort, sweeps and patrols over the Channel NW of Paris and in the Rennes area; they claim 20-0-8 Luftwaffe aircraft in the air and 1-0-0 on the ground; 3 P-38s, 1 P-47 and 3 P-51s are lost; 1 P-38 is damaged beyond repair.
2. 93 P-38s and 183 P-47s fly fighter-bomber missions against 5 railroad bridges in the Tours-Paris area; they claim 5-0-2 Luftwaffe aircraft in the air and 1-0-0 on the ground; 1 P-38 and 8 P-47s are lost; 1 each is damaged beyond repair.
3. 45 P-38s and 152 P-51s fly escort for Ninth Air Force A-20s and B-26s.
Mission 408: 7 of 7 B-17s drop leaflets on France and Belgium during the night without loss.
16 B-24s fly CARPETBAGGER missions.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS
(Ninth Air Force): In France, 509 B-26s and A-20s bomb marshalling yards, road and rail junctions, bridges, artillery, town areas, troop concentrations and various targets of opportunity; aircraft of 15+ fighter groups fly close and area support for bombers and bomb and strafe rail lines, gun batteries, bridges, fortifications, radar installation, tanks, ammunition dumps, town areas and strongpoints in the battle area.
In England, HQ 366th Fighter Group begins a movement from Thruxton to France; HQ 442d Troop Carrier Group and 303d and 304th Troop Carrier Squadrons move from Fulbeck to Weston Zoyland with C-47s; and 425th Night Fighter Squadron, IX Air Defense Command, moves from Chormy Down to Scorton with P-61s.
Campaign report of the RAF:
11/12 June 1944
329 aircraft - 225 Lancasters, 86 Halifaxes, 18 Mosquitos - of Nos 1, 3, 4 and 8 Groups attacked railway targets at Évreux, Massey Palaiseau, Nantes and Tours. All of the raids appeared to be successful. 3 Lancasters and 1 Halifax - 1 aircraft from each raid - were lost.
33 Mosquitos to Berlin, 30 Serrate patrols, 13 Halifaxes minelaying on the flanks of the invasion coast. 2 Mosquitos lost from the Berlin raid.
Total effort for the night: 405 sorties, 6 aircraft (1.5 per cent) lost.
12/13 June 1944
671 aircraft - 348 Halifaxes, 285 Lancasters, 38 Mosquitos - of Nos 4, 5, 6 and 8 Groups to attack communications, mostly railways, at Amiens/St Roch, Amiens/Longueau, Arras, Caen, Cambrai and Poitiers. (It is interesting to note that, with the exception of Caen, all of these targets were the sites of well-known battles of earlier wars and Caen was soon to be the scene of fierce fighting.) Bomber Command's records state that the Poitiers attack, by No 5 Group, was the most accurate of the night and that the 2 raids at Amiens and the raid at Arras were of reasonable accuracy. The target at Cambrai was hit but many bombs also fell in the town. The most scattered attack (also by No 5 Group) was at Caen. 23 aircraft - 17 Halifaxes and 6 Lancasters - were lost from these raids; all of these losses were from Nos 4 and 6 Groups.
A Canadian airman, Pilot Officer Andrew Charles Mynarski from Winnipeg, was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross for his bravery on the Cambrai raid. His Lancaster, of No 419 Squadron, was attacked by a night fighter and set on fire and the crew were ordered to abandon the aircraft. Mynarski was about to jump when he saw that the tail gunner was trapped in his turret and he went through fierce flames to help. The rear turret was so badly it 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 tail 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 is buried in the small village cemetery at Meharicourt, east of Amiens.
303 aircraft - 286 Lancasters and 17 Mosquitos of Nos 1, 3 and 8 Groups - carried out the first raid of the new oil campaign; the target was the Nordstern synthetic-oil plant at Gelsenkirchen (the Germans called the plant Gelsenberg AG). 17 Lancasters were lost, 6.1 per cent of the Lancaster force. The attack opened with exceptional accuracy owing to good work by the Pathfinders and to improved versions of Oboe sets now available. Later phases of the bombing were spoiled by the clouds of smoke from the burning target and by a rogue target indicator which fell 10 miles short of the target and was bombed by 35 aircraft. A German industrial report shows that all production at the oil plant ceased, with a loss of 1,000 tons of aviation fuel a day for several weeks, as well as the loss of other fuels.
27 Mosquitos to Cologne, 3 RCM sorties, 39 Serrate and 13 Intruder patrols, 9 Halifaxes and 5 Stirlings minelaying off Brest and St Nazaire, 13 aircraft on Resistance operations. No aircraft lost.
Total effort for the night: 1,083 sorties, 40 aircraft (3.7 per cent) lost.
With thanks to the RAF and USAAF.net!
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