The 90 Sqdn left from Wratting Common at 1943-09-03 at an unknown time. Loc or duty Air Test

On Friday 03 September 1943, a member of the 90 Sqdn, Pilot Officer S R Grafton, 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 an unknown time .

He flew with a Short Stirling (type III, serial EE951, code WP-B).

Campaign report of the USAAF:

(Eighth Air Force):: VIII Bomber Command Mission 90: Luftwaffe air installations in France are the target. 1. 168 B-17's are dispatched to the Romilly sur Seine air depot; 100 hit the target at 0903-0911 hours; 28 hit the secondary target, the airfield at St Andre de L'Eure at 0947-0949 hours; and 12 hit a target of opportu- nity, the Evreux/Fauvill Airfield at 0955 hours; they claim 11-1-10 Luft- waffe aircraft; 4 B-17's are lost and 55 damaged; casualties are 2 WIA and 40 MIA. 2. 65 B-17's are dispatched to Mureaux Airfield; 38 hit the target at 0843-0844 while 18 hit a dummy airfield near Dieppe; 2 B-17's are damaged; no casualties. 3. 65 B-17's are dispatched to an industrial area at Caudron-Renault near Paris; 37 hit the target at 0925 hours; they claim 15-4-8 Luftwaffe air- craft; 5 B-17's are lost and 18 damaged; casualties are 4 WIA and 40 MIA.

The B-17's are escorted by 160 P-47's; they claim 4-1-0 Luftwaffe air- craft; 1 P-47 is lost and 2 damaged; no casualties. VIII Air Support Command Mission 44: 36 B-26's are dispatched to the Beaumont le Roger Airfield and 31 hit the target at 1007 hours; 36 are dis- patched to Beauvais/Tille Airfield and all hit the target at 0907 hours; and 69 are dispatched to the Lille/Nord Airfield and 31 hit the target at 0828 hours; 20 B-26's are damaged; casualties are 1 WIA.

Campaign report of the RAF:

3/4 September 1943

316 Lancasters and 4 Mosquitos despatched to Berlin. Because of the high casualty rates among Halifaxes and Stirlings in recent Berlin raids the heavy force was composed only of Lancasters. 22 Lancasters were lost, nearly 7.0 per cent of the force. The Mosquitos were used to drop 'spoof' flares well away from the bombers' route to attract German night fighters. The raid approached Berlin from the north-east but the marking and bombing were, once again, mostly short of the target. That part of the bombing which did reach Berlin's built-up area fell in residential parts of Charlottenburg and Moabit and in the industrial area called Siemensstadt. Several factories were hit and suffered serious loss of production and among 'utilities' put out of action were major water and electricity works and one of Berlin's largest breweries.

32 OTU Wellingtons, 6 Mosquitos and 6 Halifaxes to an ammunition dump in the Forêt de Raismes, near Valenciennes; 44 Stirlings and 12 Halifaxes minelaying off Denmark, in the Frisians and off the Biscay coast; 4 Mosquitos to Düsseldorf and 7 OTU Whitleys on leaflet raids. 1 Wellington, 1 Stirling and 1 Whitley were lost.

With thanks to the RAF and USAAF.net!

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