The 75 Sqdn left from Newmarket Heath at 1943-04-17 at 22:14
He flew with a Short Stirling (type I, serial BF451, code AA-Z).
Campaign report of the USAAF:
(Eighth Air Force): VIII Bomber Command Mission Number 52: 115 B-17's are dispatched against the Focke-Wulf factory at Bremen, Germany the Eighth Air Force's largest mission to date. A mass of fighters attacks during bomb run, shooting down 15 while flak claims another. We claim 63-15-17 Luftwaffe aircraft; 39 B-17's are damaged; casualties are 2 KIA, 4 WIA and 159 MIA. The Commanding General, VIII Fighter Command, expresses the need for 20 fighter groups to neutralize growing German fighter opposition to the Combined Bomber Offensive (CBO).
Campaign report of the RAF:
16/17 April 1943
327 aircraft - 197 Lancasters and 130 Halifaxes dispatched to bomb the Skoda armaments factory at Pilsen in Czechoslovakia. 18 Lancasters and 18 Halifaxes lost, 11.0 per cent of the force. One Canadian squadron, No 408, lost 4 of its 12 Halifaxes dispatched. This raid, took place by the light of a full moon but was not a success. In a complicated plan, the Main Force was ordered to confirm the position of the Skoda factory visually; the Pathfinder markers were only intended as a general guide. In the event, a large asylum building 7 miles away was mistaken for the factory and only 6 crews brought back bombing photographs which were within 3 miles of the real target. The Skoda factory was not hit. One report says that 200 German soldiers were killed when their barracks near the asylum was bombed.
Mannheim was the target for 271 aircraft - 159 Wellingtons, 95 Stirlings, 17 Halifaxes. The Pathfinders marked this target accurately and an effective attack followed. 18 aircraft - 9 Wellingtons, 7 Stirlings, 2 Halifaxes - lost, 6.6 per cent of the force.
11 OTU aircraft dropped leaflets over France without loss.
Total effort for the night: 609 sorties, 54 aircraft (8.9 per cent) lost. The aircraft losses on this night were the highest so far in the war, exceeding the 50 lost on the 1,000-bomber-type raid on Bremen on 25/26 June 1942, but 14 of the aircraft lost from the Pilsen and Mannheim raids came down in the sea and a proportion of their crews were rescued.
17 April 1943
37 Venturas bombed railway targets at Abbeville and Caen and a power-station at Zeebrugge. All targets were hit and no aircraft were lost.
17/18 April 1943
Minelaying: 24 aircraft laid mines off the Biscay ports without loss.
With thanks to the RAF and USAAF.net!
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