The 9 Sqdn left from Bardney at 1944-08-13 at 8:32. Loc or duty Brest

He flew with a Avro Lancaster (type I, serial ME757, code WS-O).

Campaign report of the USAAF:

STRATEGIC OPERATIONS

(Eighth Air Force): 4 missions are flown: Mission 548: 1,264 bombers and 131 fighters are dispatched to make visual attacks in support of ground forces on coastal batteries and transportation choke points between Le Havre and Paris; 12 bombers are lost:

1. Of 798 B-17s, 634 hit battle area targets, 69 hit Le Manoir Bridge and 54 hit targets of opportunity; 7 B-17s are lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 484 damaged; 2 airmen are KIA, 8 WIA and 63 MIA.

2. Of 466 B-24s, 347 hit battle area targets, 69 hit Ile de Cezembre and 34 hit St Malo; 5 B-24s are lost; 1 airman is KIA, 4 WIA and 50 MIA.

The 2 forces above are escorted by 131 of 136 P-51s.

Mission 549: 1 APHRODITE B-17 with 2,000-pounds (907 kgs) of bombs is launched against Le Havre; B-17, P-38 and Mosquito support aircraft assist; the target is missed and the Mosquito is destroyed by the exploding bombs.

Mission 550: 2 of 4 B-17s fly a Micro H test mission to La Chenaie rail junction.

Mission 551: 6 of 6 B-17s drop leaflets in France, the Netherlands and Belgium during the night.

36 B-24s fly CARPETBAGGER missions during the night.

844 P-38s, P-47s and P-51s fly fighter-bomber missions against transportation targets in the Seine River area; they claim 0-0-1 Luftwaffe aircraft on the ground; 4 P-47s and 9 P-51s are lost, 4 P-47s are damaged beyond repair and 1 P-47 is damaged; 1 pilot is KIA, 1 WIA and 13 MIA.

TACTICAL OPERATIONS

(Ninth Air Force): In France, around 575 B-26s and A-20s with fighter escort bomb fuel storage at Les Buissons, points along highways around Lisieux and SE to Rugles with the aim of containing the enemy in the Falaise pocket, railroad targets at Peronne, Doullens, and Corbeil- Essonnes; fighters cover ground forces, and fly armed reconnaissance in the Alencon, Le Mans, Domfront, and Chartres areas; about 125 C-47s fly ferry and evacuation missions; during the night of 13/14 Aug, 28 B-26s bomb the Foret de Halouze ammunition dump and bivouac area; and the 378th Fighter Squadron, 362d Fighter Group, moves from Ligneroller to Rennes with P-47s.

Campaign report of the RAF:

12/13 August 1944

Brunswick: 242 Lancasters and 137 Halifaxes. 17 Lancasters and 10 Halifaxes lost, 7.1 per cent of the force. This was an experimental raid. No Pathfinder aircraft took part and there was no marking. The intention was to discover how successfully a force of aircraft could carry out a raid with each crew bombing on the indications of its own H2S set. The raid was not successful and there was no concentration of bombing. The Brunswick report calls it a 'heavy raid' but only states that bombs fell in the central and Stadtpark areas. Other towns, up to 20 miles distant, were mistaken for Brunswick and were also bombed.

297 aircraft - 191 Lancasters, 96 Halifaxes, 10 Mosquitos - to Rüsselsheim. 13 Lancasters and 7 Halifaxes lost, 6.7 per cent of the force. The target for this raid was the Opel motor factory and normal Pathfinder marking methods were used. The motor factory was only slightly damaged; the local report states that the tyre and dispatch departments and the powerhouse were hit but most of the bombs fell in open countryside south of the target.

144 aircraft - 91 Lancasters, 36 Halifaxes, 12 Stirlings, 5 Mosquitos - bombed a German troop concentration and a road junction north of Falaise. The bombing was believed to have been very effective. No aircraft lost.

40 Halifaxes and 12 Mosquitos bombed 2 launching sites and a storage depot. No aircraft lost.

Support and 143 training aircraft on a diversionary sweep over the English Channel, 21 Mosquitos to Kiel, 10 to Frankfurt and 3 each to Coulommiers and Juvincourt airfields, 33 RCM sorties, 47 Mosquito patrols, 10 Lancasters and 4 Halifaxes minelaying off Biscay ports, 21 OTU sorties. 2 Mosquitos lost - 1 from the Frankfurt raid and 1 Mosquito of No 100 Group, probably a Serrate aircraft.

Total effort for the night: 1,167 sorties, 49 aircraft (4.2 per cent) lost. The bombs dropped during this night brought Bomber Command's total for the war so far to approximately 500,000 tons.

13 August 1944

28 Lancasters and 1 Mosquito of No 5 Group attacked the U-boat pens and shipping at Brest. Hits were claimed on the pens, on the hulk of an old French battleship, the Clémenceau, and on a medium-sized tanker. The object of the attacks on ships was to prevent the Germans using any of the large ships in Brest to block the harbour just before its capture by American troops. 1 Lancaster lost.

15 Lancasters of No 5 Group bombed an oil depot at Bordeaux accurately. 1 Lancaster lost.

8 Mosquito fighters and 1 RCM Wellington of No 100 Group flew operations without loss.

13/14 August 1944

30 Mosquitos to Hannover, 22 RCM sorties, 15 Mosquito patrols, 10 Halifaxes and 5 Lancasters minelaying off Biscay ports, 4 Halifaxes on Resistance operations, 9 OTU sorties.

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