72 aircraft - 29 Lancasters, 22 Halifaxes, 21 Stirlings - were dispatched on an interesting raid. All the aircraft were provided by No 8 Group and it was really a mass H2S trial. 33 of the aircraft carried markers or flares, the remaining aircraft acting as the bombing force, although the marker aircraft also bombed. The marking and bombing were very accurate and the whole raid lasted less than...
Part of a vertical photographic-reconnaissance aerial taken over Munich, Germany after the raid by aircraft of Nos. 1 and 5 Groups, Bomber Command, on the night of 24/25 April 1944, showing the building complex of the Residenz, gutted by incendiary fire. Damage has also been caused to the Feldherrnhalle fronting onto Odeonsplatz (lower right), which was an important Nazi Party 'shrine'.
16 July 1944, Target: Wiener Neudorf Aircraft Engine Factory, Austria
The Group continued the use of pathfinder methods with a formation of four flights against the Wiener Neudorf Aircraft Engine Factory in Austria on 16 July. Bombing through an almost complete undercast, the Group missed the target when the bombs fell short and to the right.
The Renault factory, in the town of Boulogne-Billancourt just west of the centre of Paris, was making an estimated 18,000 lorries a year for the German forces. 235 aircraft - 89 Wellingtons, 48 Hampdens, 29 Stirlings, 26 Manchesters, 23 Whitleys, 20 Halifaxes - were dispatched in 3 waves, the crews of the leading wave being selected for their experience. The plan called for the massed use of fl...
Six weeks after this final raid on what remained of Cologne, this photo was taken and shows the bombed-out remains of the city.
858 aircraft - 531 Lancasters, 303 Halifaxes, 24 Mosquitos - raided Cologne in 2 waves. 6 Lancasters and 2 Halifaxes were lost and 1 Halifax crashed in Belgium. The first raid was carried out by 703 aircraft and the second by 155 Lancasters of No 3 Grou...
Marienburg in East Prussia was the home of a Focke-Wulf aircraft assembly plant where half of all Fw-190's were produced. The first big raid by the 8th Air Force was on this well defended plant. A survivor is quoted as saying: "Coming back, the Germans were up in full force and we lost at least 80 ships-800 men, many of them pals".
Wangerooge: 482 aircraft - 308 Halifaxes, 158 Lancasters, 16 Mosquitos - of Nos 4, 6 and 8 Groups. 5 Halifaxes and 2 Lancasters lost. The raid was intended to knock out the coastal batteries on this Frisian island which controlled the approaches to the ports of Bremen and Wilhelmshaven. No doubt the experience of Antwerp, when guns on the approaches had prevented the port being used for several...
26 December 1944
The weather at last improved and allowed Bomber Command to intervene in the Ardennes battle. 294 aircraft - 146 Lancasters, 136 Halifaxes, 12 Mosquitos - of all the bomber groups (not No 100 Group) attacked German troop positions near St Vith. This was the first time since mid-October that aircraft from all the bomber groups had joined together in one raid. The bombing a...
The most severe bombing of Sofia ever occurred on March 30, 1944. Some 370 american heavy bombers flied upon Sofia destroying 3575 buildings. The casualties were relatively modest due to the preliminarily evacuation of the civilians. The target of the bombing, as the image clearly depicts, were neither military installations, nor armed forces, but the very historical downtown of the city of Sof...
39 Lancasters and 4 Mosquitos of No 5 Group to a small ball-bearing factory at Annecy on the France-Switzerland border. Weather en route was very bad and only 2 Mosquito marker aircraft reached the target, but the factory was accurately bombed. No aircraft lost.
173 Lancasters of No 3 Group carried out a G-H raid on Solingen. 1 Lancaster lost. Results of the raid were not observed, because of the complete cloud cover, but German reports show that this was an outstanding success. Most of the bombing fell accurately into the medium-sized town of Solingen. 1,300 houses and 18 industrial buildings were destroyed and 1,600 more buildings were severely damaged.
10/30/2005
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