The 90 Sqdn left from Wratting Common at 1943-07-14 at 23:46. Loc or duty Aachen

On Wednesday 14 July 1943, a member of the 90 Sqdn, Flight Lieutenant C E Coombs, took off from Wratting Common 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 23:46.

He flew with a Short Stirling (type III, serial EE873, code WP-D).

Campaign report of the USAAF:

(Eighth Air Force): VIII Bomber Command Mission Number 73: Three targets are struck in France, i.e.: 1. 111 B-17's and 5 YB-40's are dispatched against the aircraft works at Villacoublay, France; 101 hit the target at 0811-0815 hours; they claim 15-7-16 Luftwaffe aircraft; 3 B-17's are lost and 67 damaged; casualties are 1 KIA, 3 WIA and 21 MIA. 2. 64 B-17's are dispatched against Amiens/Glisy Airfield; 53 hit the target at 0742 hours; they claim 9-0-2 Luftwaffe aircraft; 1 B-17 is lost, 3 are damaged beyond repair and 34 are damaged; casualties are 6 KIA, 3 WIA and 10 MIA. 3. 84 B-17's are dispatched against LeBourget Airfield, Paris; 52 hit the target at 0750-0820 hours; they claim 41-27-32 Luftwaffe aircraft; 4 B-17's are lost, 1 is damaged beyond repair and 50 damaged; casualties are 16 WIA and 41 MIA.

Campaign report of the RAF:

13/14 July 1943

374 aircraft - 214 Halifaxes, 76 Wellingtons, 55 Stirlings, 18 Lancasters, 11 Mosquitos ordered to Aachen. A strong tail wind brought the first waves of the Main Force into the target area before Zero Hour with the result that, when the first Pathfinder markers were released, an unusually large number of aircraft bombed in the first minutes of the raid. The visibility was good and large areas of Aachen appeared to burst into flame at once. In the words of the report from Aachen, 'A Terrorangriff[Terrorattack] of the most severe scale was delivered.' 20 aircraft - 15 Halifaxes, 2 Lancasters, 2 Wellingtons, 1 Stirling - lost, 5.3 per cent of the force.

2 Oboe Mosquitos carried out a diversion for the Aachen raid by dropping target indicators over Cologne. 8 OTU Wellingtons carried out leaflet flights to France. 1 Wellington crashed in the sea.

14/15 July 1943

8 Mosquitos carried out a nuisance raid on Berlin, 1 aircraft crashed in the sea.

With thanks to the RAF and USAAF.net!

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