The 75 Sqdn left from Mepal at 1944-04-24 at 20:42. Loc or duty Gardening

On Monday 24 April 1944, a member of the 75 Sqdn, Flight Sergeant R Bailey, took off from Mepal 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 20:42.

He flew with a Short Stirling (type III, serial EF137, code AA-E).

Campaign report of the USAAF:

STRATEGIC OPERATIONS

(Eighth Air Force): Mission 315: 754 bombers and 867 fighters are dispatched to bomb airfields, aircraft production industries and targets of opportunity in Germany; the bomber claim 20-1-36 Luftwaffe aircraft and the fighters claim 124-6-58 fighters; 40 bombers and 17 fighters are lost; details are:

1. Of 281 B-17s dispatched, 109 hit Erding Air Depot, 84 hit aviation industry targets at Oberpfaffenhofen, 57 hit Lansberg Airfield and 18 hit targets of opportunity; 27 B-17s are lost and 112 damaged; casualties are 4 KIA, 22 WIA and 260 MIA.

2. 243 B-17s are dispatched to bomb aviation industry targets at Friedrichshafen/Lowenthal (98 bomb) and Friedrichshafen/Manzell (58 bomb), industrial areas at Friedrichshafen/Manzell (58 bomb) and Neckarsulm (15 bomb); 3 also hit targets of opportunity; 9 B-17s are lost and 119 damaged; casualties are 7 KIA, 4 WIA and 71 MIA.

3. 230 B-24s are dispatched to bomb airfields; 120 hit Gablingen Airfield, 98 hit Leipheim Airfield and 1 hits a target of opportunity; 4 B-24s are lost and 26 damaged; casualties are 1 WIA and 40 MIA.

Escort is provided by 131 P-38s, 490 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-47s and 246 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-51s: P-38s claim 4-1-0 Luftwaffe aircraft, 1 P-38 is damaged beyond repair and 7 damaged; P-47s claim 2-1-0 aircraft in the air and 36-0-16 on the ground, 5 P-47s are lost and 15 damaged, 5 pilots are MIA; P-51s claim 64-4-2 aircraft in the air and 21-0-20 on the ground, 12 P-51s are lost and 8 damaged; 12 pilots are MIA.

Mission 316: 5 of 5 B-17s drop 1.12 million leaflets on Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht, The Netherlands and Lille and Reims, France at 2322-2344 hours without loss.

8 B-24s are dispatched on CARPETBAGGER operations.

TACTICAL OPERATIONS

(Ninth Air Force): 38 B-26s dispatched against targets in France are recalled because of bad weather.

32 P-47s dive-bomb the Louvain, Belgium marshalling yard with good results

Campaign report of the RAF:

23/24 April 1944

Minelaying: 114 aircraft - 70 Halifaxes, 30 Stirlings, 14 Lancasters - to lay mines in 5 areas of the Baltic. 4 Halifaxes and 1 Stirling lost.

25 Mosquitos carried out a harassing raid on Mannheim without loss.

12 G-H Stirlings bombed a signals depot at Brussels without loss.

2 RCM sorties, 4 Serrate patrols, 10 aircraft on Resistance operations, 6 OTU sorties. No aircraft lost.

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.

With thanks to the RAF and USAAF.net!

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