Bomber Command

by Martin Bowman

  Bandle and de Dauw had opened fire simultaneously at 100 yards range and loosed 500 rounds at it without taking their thumbs off the firing buttons. The enemy’s port engine caught fire just as he broke away. He went into a succession of dives and half-hearted pull-outs, finally spinning out of control until lost to view.28

  At Waddington Pilot Officer Alec Riley’s Lancaster was long overdue and was given up as lost. Casualty signals were made out and were with the Signals Section just about to be dispatched when his voice came out of the blue and called up on the TR9 about four and a half hours later than his ETR. He had landed at a satellite of Mildenhall but nobody notified Waddington. His crew’s kit had been collected by the Committee of Adjustment. It was indeed fortunate that he got back when he did for it could have been a big shock to the next of kin to have got the telegrams. Over the mid-day news the number of aircraft lost was given as 28 but by the 18.30 hours session it had been reduced to 27.

  This was an ineffective raid with bombs being scattered over all parts of the German capital.

  There were two nights of rest for the bomber squadrons and then on the night of 5/6 January, 358 Lancasters and Halifaxes raided Stettin. Thirteen Mosquitoes raiding Berlin kept most of the German night fighters away from the Main Force attack, which lost 16 heavies.29 One of these was ‘Tommy 2’, a 626 Squadron Lancaster at Wickenby flown by Australian Flight Lieutenant Noel Belford. They had dropped their bombs and incendiaries on the centre of the markers just before 04.00 hours and turned for home. It was some hours later when the mid-upper gunner asked how it could be that the polestar lay astern if they were flying west that Flight Sergeant Arthur Lee the navigator realized that the gyro compass was u/s and that they had been flying in the arc of an enormous circle. It was clear that they would not have enough fuel to make it back. Shortly before 10.00 hours Belford decided to land across the troughs, using the wave crests to slow the aircraft down. After several dummy runs he then ditched ‘Tommy 2’ in the North Sea, 60 miles off Withernsea, Yorkshire. The sea was running a heavy swell and the wind was very strong. All the crew survived and were afloat in the open sea in their dinghy until they were spotted by a Hudson and eventually they were rescued by a RML (Rescue Motor Launch) which put them ashore at Great Yarmouth at noon on Friday the 7th.

  The next major bombing effort was on 14/15 January when 498 bombers set out for Brunswick but most of the attack fell either in the countryside or in Wolfenbüttel and other small towns and villages well to the south of the city. The German defences picked up the attacking force only 40 miles from the English coast and many night fighters entered the bomber stream soon after the bombers crossed the German frontier near Bremen. From then until the heavies crossed the Dutch coast on the return flight no less than 42 Lancasters were shot down. Nachtjagd, operating Zahme Sau (Tame Boar) free-lance or Pursuit Night Fighting tactics to excellent advantage, seemed to have rendered Window counterproductive.30

  The straight in, straight out routes, which so often characterized previous raids on Berlin were abandoned on the night of 20/21 January when 769 aircraft – 264 of them Halifaxes – went to the ‘Big City’. It was a fine day and the bombers took off in late afternoon. Over Germany the bombers ran into the cloud of a cold front and Berlin was completely cloud-covered. The timing of the Blind Markers was reported to be ‘excellent’ and a good concentration of Sky Markers was maintained throughout the attack but the crews of H2S aircraft thought that the attack fell on the eastern districts of the city. Conditions were particularly favourable to night fighters since a layer of cloud at 12,000 feet illuminated from below by searchlights provided a background against which aircraft could be silhouetted. About 100 twin engined fighters were sighted over Berlin and nine bombers were shot down in the Berlin area, some by flak, as Pilot Officer G G A Whitehead on 76 Squadron at Holme on Spalding Moor, 15 miles southeast of York, recalls:

  As the bombs left the bomb bay there was an almighty crack as we were hit in the nose by flak at 20,000 feet. The bomb aimer, Flying Officer Harold ‘Don’ Morris, was killed instantly and the wireless operator, Sergeant L Stokes, was badly wounded. There was a large hole in the port side of the nose, involving the navigator’s compartment and all his instruments, charts etc., were sucked out of it. There was some damage in my department, the worst of which was to both compasses, which were completely inoperable. One engine failed and the aircraft was difficult to control but we turned westwards and I told the navigator that I would keep Polaris in the starboard cockpit window and although that would involve flying over more enemy territory than was healthy, provided our luck held we might make the shorter sea crossing to UK. There was 10/10ths cloud below and Polaris was our only navigational aid.

  We held on like this for ages, gradually losing height. Fuel was a problem. Although we had plenty on board, the flight engineer reported that he was unable to use the starboard tanks because of damage to the fuel-cock mechanism. Both port engines began to overheat. I saw the clouds ahead were breaking and I told the crew that if there was land below they should be prepared to ‘get out and walk’.

  I instructed them to prepare Stokes for a static-line parachute exit if I deemed it necessary to give the order. We were at 3,000 feet when we reached the break in the cloud but it was not possible to identify anything on the ground. I adopted the ‘I am lost’ procedure by calling ‘Hallo “Darkie” ’ on the radio several times but got no reply. We were down to the last half pint of our useable fuel so I gave the order to bail out. All the survivors got out and landed safely. The aircraft had a mind of its own and wanted to do aerobatics as soon as I let go of the controls but I made it and it passed me on the way down! We had hoped that the land might have been Suffolk or Essex but on the way down I realized there were no coal mines in these counties. I landed in the back garden of a miner’s cottage in Lens, in north-eastern France!31

  The diversions by twelve Mosquitoes to Düsseldorf, four to Kiel and three to Hannover were not large enough to fool the German defences and night fighters shot down all 35 bombers that failed to return. Six aircraft were lost to fighters on the way out, at least six over Berlin and four more on the first leg of the homeward journey. Three of the 13 missing Lancasters were on 83 Squadron at Wyton. At Bourn there was no word from K-King on 97 Squadron, which was flown by Pilot Officer Cyril Arthur Wakley who was killed. Three other crew members were taken prisoner. The other three men who died included the rear gunner, Technical Sergeant Ben H Stedman USAAF whose remains could not be found. Twenty-two Halifaxes were lost on the raid and a 427 ‘Lion’ Squadron RCAF Halifax crashed at Westwick in Norfolk and a 434 ‘Bluenose’ Squadron RCAF Halifax piloted by Flight Sergeant F Johnson crashed at Flixton in Yorkshire.

  Seven Halifaxes that were lost or missing were on 102 Squadron and only nine Halifaxes returned to Pocklington. X-X-Ray was shot down on the outward leg by Hauptmann Ludwig ‘Luk’ Meister of I./NJG4 and abandoned in the vicinity of Neuruppin. All the crew were taken into captivity. After releasing its bombs and as the bomb doors started to close, F-Freddie flown by Pilot Officer G A Griffiths DFM was hit by flak over the target, which set the starboard wing and the bomb bay on fire. A Bf 110 applied the coup de grace and the aircraft dived steeply and began breaking up. Sergeant H L Bushell the tail gunner said: ‘The whole of the thing caught fire on the starboard wing and the pilot told us to bail out. Reg Wilson the navigator and Laurie Underwood the bomb aimer bailed out. John Bremner the flight engineer helped Reg to open the hatch, but John didn’t get out.’ He and Eric Church the wireless operator, Sergeant Kenneth Stanbridge the second pilot, and Charles Dupueis the Canadian mid-upper gunner were killed when F-Freddie crashed into woodland at Hirschgarten Friedrichshagen on the outskirts of Berlin.32 H-Harry was hit by flak at 19,500 feet over the target and after bombs away was shot down by a night fighter. Harry was abandoned and crashed at Ahrensfelde 13 kilometres from the centre of Berlin. Five of the eight man crew survived and were taken prisoner. Six men on N-Nuts we
re lost without trace and the pilot was taken prisoner.

  P-Peter was hit by flak at 18,000 feet and the No. 3 petrol tank was punctured. On the return the undercarriage could not be lowered and on regaining the Yorkshire coast Flying Officer A H Hall ordered the crew to bail out after which he crash-landed at Clitheroe Farm, five miles north of Driffield airfield. There were no injuries but the aircraft was wrecked. On the return, O-for Orange flown by Flight Sergeant Richard Proctor crashed between Intwood Hall and the Norwich to Wymondham LNER railway line at Cringleford on the outskirts of Norwich. Proctor was injured; Flying Officer James Alexander W ‘Jock’ Turnbull the bomb aimer from Ashkirk, Selkirkshire was more seriously injured and he was pronounced dead at the Norfolk & Norwich hospital.

  102 Squadron were to lose four more aircraft the next night, when favourable weather permitted sending 648 aircraft in four waves to Magdeburg, sixty miles west of Berlin. Winds were stronger than forecast and the outward route was not dissimilar to that of the night before. A feint by 22 Lancasters and a dozen Mosquitoes who bombed Berlin was largely ignored and the JLO ordered Zahme Sau to assemble at a beacon between Hamburg and Cuxhaven. Later he ordered them to Hamburg and then to Leipzig just south of Magdeburg. The Bf 110s and Ju 88s struck between Cuxhaven and Lüneburg south of Hamburg with devastating effect.

  Major Heinrich zu Sayn-Wittgenstein flying a Ju 88C-6 had taken off from Stendal near Berlin shortly before 21.00 hours on a Tame Boar sortie. Constantly in action and clearly worn out by battle fatigue, just a few days earlier Wittgenstein had received the Oak Leaves to his Knight’s Cross from Hitler. In less than 40 minutes in the vicinity of Magdeburg the prinz shot down three Lancasters and two Halifaxes. His radar operator, Feldwebel Friedrich Ostheimer reported:

  At about 22.00 hours I picked up the first contact on my [SN-2] search equipment. I passed the pilot directions and a little later the target was sighted: it was a Lancaster. We moved into position and opened fire and the aircraft immediately caught fire in the left wing. It went down at a steep angle and started to spin. Between 22.00 and 22.05 hours the bomber crashed and went off with a violent explosion; I watched the crash.

  Again we searched. At times I could see as many as six aircraft on my radar. After some further directions the next target was sighted: again a Lancaster. Following the first burst from us there was a small fire and the machine dropped back its left wing and went down in a vertical dive. Shortly afterwards I saw it crash. It was sometime between 22.10 and 22.15 hours. When it crashed there were heavy detonations, most probably it was the bomb load.

  After a short interval we again sighted a Lancaster. There was a long burst of fire and the bomber ignited and went down. I saw it crash sometime between 22.25 and 22.30 hours; the exact time is not known.33 Immediately afterwards we saw yet another four-motored bomber; we were in the middle of the so-called ‘bomber-stream’. After one firing pass this bomber went down in flames; at about 22.40 hours I saw the crash.

  Yet again I had a target on my search equipment. After a few directions we again sighted a Lancaster and after one attack it caught fire in the fuselage. The fire then died down and we moved into position for a new attack. We were again in position and Major Wittgenstein was ready to shoot when, in our own machine, there were terrible explosions and sparks. It immediately caught fire in the left wing and began to go down. As I heard this the canopy above my head flew away and I heard on the intercom a shout of Raus! [Get out!]. I tore off my oxygen mask and helmet and was then thrown out of the machine. After a short time I opened my parachute and landed east of the Hohengoehrener Dam, near Schoenhausen.

  Early next morning the body of Prinz Wittgenstein was discovered close to the crash site at Lübars. On bailing out, his head had probably struck the tail-plane, rendering him unconscious and unable to pull the ripcord. Wittgenstein’s 83rd victory (one more than Lent) elevated him to the position of highest scoring night fighter pilot ever. After his death, only Oberst Lent and Major Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer were to overtake him with a higher score. Wittgenstein often spoke of the agony he felt about having to kill people and how, whenever possible, he tried to hit Viermots in such a way that the crew could bail out. Ironically he had been surprised by an attack from below, precisely the form of attack he himself had most favoured.

  The night fighters remained with the bomber stream all the way to Magdeburg where most of the bombing is believed to have fallen outside the city. The stronger than forecast winds brought some of the bombers into the target area before the Path Finders’ Zero Hour and 27 Main Force aircraft bombed without delay. The Path Finders later blamed the fires started by these aircraft and some effective enemy decoy markers for the scattered bombing that followed. Five bombers were shot down over the target. About 60 aircraft were damaged by flak and fighters and some of these did not make it home. A 76 Squadron Halifax crashed into the sea off the coast of Holland and a Halifax on 419 ‘Moose’ Squadron RCAF at Middleton St. George crashed at Bourn, killing all the crew. Three Halifaxes crashed into the North Sea off Flamborough Head. One of them was a Halifax on 102 Squadron; three of the Squadron’s four losses were from the four new crews that had arrived at Pocklington that morning. A Halifax on 466 Squadron RAAF crashed at Leconfield on return. All seven crew on a 460 Squadron RAAF Lancaster were injured when their aircraft crashed at Caistor in Lincolnshire. A total of 58 bombers was shot down; Bomber Command’s heaviest loss of the war so far.

  There were three nights of rest for the Main Force following the Magdeburg debacle and a raid planned for the night of 25/26 January was cancelled. Then on Thursday 27 January 515 Lancasters and 15 Mosquitoes were detailed for Berlin again. Half the German night fighter force was duped into flying north by a diversionary force of Halifaxes laying mines near Heligoland and only a few enemy fighters attacked the bombers before Berlin was reached. The target was cloud covered and sky marking had to be used. This appeared to be accurate but the strong winds blew them rapidly along the line of the bombers’ route and bombing was ‘spread well up and down wind’. This raid was the first time that the Flare Force marked with ‘Supporters’ from non-Path Finder squadrons. Until now the ‘Supporters’ had all been from 8 Group. Supporting the Flare Force meant arriving at the target at the same time but flying at 2,000 feet below them to attract the flak and enable the PFF to carry out a straight and level run. After drawing the flak the ‘Supporters’ then re-crossed the target to drop their bombs. Twenty-eight of the most experienced crews in 1 Group acted as Supporters, two of which were shot down though one was lost far from the target. Another 11 Lancasters in 1 Group including three on 460 Squadron at Binbrook, which dispatched 18 Lancasters on the raid, failed to return. Nothing was heard from ‘C Squared’, K-King and G-George after take-off but all seven men on C Squared survived to be taken prisoner. All on George were killed. Flight Sergeant John Francis Worley the mid-upper gunner, had trained in Kingaroy, Queensland and Evans Head, NSW before being posted overseas and had a fiancée, Joan Kelly. Only four men on K-King made it out alive. In 6 Group the three RCAF squadrons operating Lancaster IIs lost eight out of the 48 aircraft dispatched. All told, 33 Lancasters failed to return.

  One of those was Sugar 2 on 626 Squadron at Wickenby flown by Noel Belford, whose crew had been rescued from the North Sea on 7 January and had all lived to tell the tale. When the CO discovered that they had never done a dinghy drill before the ditching he had ordered everyone on the squadron to practise the procedure until they could perform it in their sleep. It was of no use to Belford’s crew, who came down at Katzenelnbogen on the Berlin operation. The Australian pilot and five of the crew died. Flight Sergeant Arthur Lee was the only survivor.

  Flight Lieutenant Stanley James and his crew on 9 Squadron became victims of Schräge Musik. James, who was from Harrow, was 19 years old, having joined the RAFVR at 16. It was their 23rd operation and their seventh consecutive visit to Berlin. Having completed the bomb run, they left the ‘Big City’ and about fifteen minutes l
ater they were attacked. Flight Sergeant Hal Croxson the rear gunner said that there was just one ‘thump’ and that ‘the entire aircraft shuddered and then carried on’. Flight Sergeant A Howie the bomb aimer bellowed into the intercom, ‘We’ve got fire in the bomb bay!’ Some bombs had not been released because the bomb release gear would often freeze solid and there would be odd hang-ups. The navigator had been hit in the leg by a piece of flak and the flight engineer said one engine had gone down. After the initial shock of the attack and the panic that ensued, the bomb aimer dealt with the fire through the inspection door and at the same time he released some of the hang-ups. The wireless operator treated the navigator’s wound. James reckoned that even with three engines they would fly home but about twenty minutes later another engine packed up. James told Croxson to jettison anything he could. He got the flare chute away and the Elsan out. He thought, ‘I wonder whose head this will land on!’ He also got the arrest bed out and 12,000 rounds of ammunition, which would feed the rear turret, although he left several hundred rounds in case he should need them.