The 214 Sqdn left from Stradishall at 1942-08-18 at 21:33. Loc or duty Osnabruck
He flew with a Short Stirling (type I, serial BF330, code BU-H).
Campaign report of the USAAF:
(8th Air Force): Units arriving in England from the US: HQ 14th Fighter Group at Atcham; HQ 64th Troop Carrier Group and 16th, 17th, 18th and 35th Troop Carrier Squadrons at Ramsbury with C-47s; HQ 92d Bombardment Group (Heavy) and 325th, 326th, 327th and 407th Bombardment Squadrons (Heavy) at Bovingdon with B-17s (they will fly some combat missions while training replacement crews, Aug 42-Jan 43); 32d Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 301st Bombardment Group (Heavy), at Chelveston with B-17s (first mission is 2 Oct).
Campaign report of the RAF:
17/18 August 1942
Osnabrück
139 aircraft of 5 types. 5 aircraft - 3 Wellingtons, 1 Lancaster, 1 Stirling - lost, 3.6 per cent of the force.
111 crews reported accurate bombing. Osnabrück recorded a sharp attack on the north and north-western parts of the town with 77 houses and 4 military buildings destroyed and 125 other buildings seriously damaged, including the town's main hospital, a paper-mill and a copper-wire factory. 7 people were killed and 15 were injured.
Minor Operations: 8 Blenheim Intruders, 4 aircraft minelaying in the Frisians and off Texel and Verdon. No aircraft lost.
The last operational flights in Bomber Command by Blenheims were carried out on this night when 18 Squadron, based at Wattisham, carried out the last Blenheim Intruder operation, attacking airfields at Leeuwarden, Rheine, Twente and Vechta.
18 August 1942
1 Mosquito bombed Hamburg, which reports 2 people killed, 32 injured and 31 bombed out.
18/19 August 1942
Flensburg
118 aircraft, including 31 Pathfinders. 4 aircraft - 2 Wellingtons, 1 Halifax, 1 Stirling - lost, 3.4 per cent of the force.
Flensburg, on an inlet of the Baltic, was in theory an easy target for the Pathfinders on their first operation but the winds encountered were not as forecast and the bomber force drifted north of the target to a part of Denmark whose coast also had many inlets. 16 Pathfinder crews claimed to have marked the target area and 78 Main Force crews also claimed to have bombed in the correct place. Flensburg reports that the town was not hit at all but a Danish report shows that the towns of Sønderborg and Abenra and a large area of Denmark up to 25 miles north of Flensburg were hit by scattered bombing. 26 houses were destroyed and 660 were damaged but only 4 Danish people were injured.
9 Wellingtons laid mines in the Frisian Islands without loss.
With thanks to the RAF and USAAF.net!
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