18th October 1944. Weather: Fair with showers, becoming cloudy, rain in evening. Non-Operational Flying: Formation flying and H2S training. Operational Flying: BOMBING – BONN. 16 aircraft detailed. 16 aircraft took off and 15 aircraft attacked primary target. 1 aircraft ‘B’ jettisoned and landed at Woodbridge after being hit by heavy Flak, Bomb Aimer injured. ‘O’ landed Lille Veneville partly owing to Flak damage and severe icing experienced on leaving target and shortage of petrol. Weather – varying cloud 2-7/10ths with break for bombing. 5 crews bombed on GH, the rest visually. Bombing was accurate around the A/P by evidence of thick smoke, some bombs seen to fall on built up area, East bank of the river. Three of our aircraft hit by Flak, no fighters. 14 aircraft landed back at Base. F/O GC France in PD265, JI-G reported: Bomb load 1 x 4000 HC, 5 x 12 x 30 – 2 x 12 x 30 modified, 9 x No. 14 clusters. Primary target: BONN. Bombed at 1101 hours from 19,000 feet. West Side of bridge. F/O GW Smith in LM684 JI-O reported: 1 x 4000 HC fell out due to heavy flak burst 15 miles short of target when bomb doors were opened, bomb doors battered, slight damage to starboard wing. Aircraft landed at Lille-Vendeville. P/O AE Williams in LM734, JI-B reported: Aircraft jettisoned on approaches to target when direct hit by heavy flak. Peeled off immediately. Numerous flak holes in fuselage and starboard wing. Bomb Aimer fractured leg. Heavy damage to aircraft. Landed at Woodbridge. Target: Bonn – Area. Assessment of GH effectiveness. Aircraft deployed total: 128 (Lancasters) 514 Squadron: 16 Aircraft lost total: 1 (Lancaster) 514 Squadron: Nil Comment: 3 Group commenced a new independent role due to their use of GH which enabled targets to be accurately attacked over 10/10ths cloud not exceeding 18,000 feet. 128 Lancasters were dispatched with the loss of only a single aircraft and the raid was considered a success. The heart of Bonn was destroyed though the former home of the composer Beethoven was saved by the courageous actions of its caretakers.
Posted on: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 06:05:00 +0000