February 1944

24^th

William Uyen is still on leave after his crash so this night there is no operation planned for William.

734 aircraft - 554 Lancasters, 169 Halifaxes, 11 Mosquitos - carried out the first Bomber Command raid on Schweinfurt, home of Germany's main ball-bearing factories. 266 American B-17s had raided the factories the previous day Bomber Command introduced a novel tactic on this night. The Schweinfurt force was split into two parts - 392 aircraft and 342 aircraft, separated by a 2-hour interval. Part of the German fighter force was drawn up by earlier diversions.
179 training aircraft on a diversionary sweep over the North Sea, 60 Halifaxes and 50 Stirlings minelaying in Kiel Bay and the Kattegat, 15 Mosquitos to airfields in Holland, 8 Mosquitos to Kiel and 7 to Aachen, 12 Serrate patrols. 2 Stirlings were lost from the minelaying operation and 1 Serrate Mosquito of No 141 Squadron was lost, the first Serrate aircraft to be lost under Bomber Command control. 5 Wellingtons laid mines off Lorient

Squadron 78

15 aircraft detailed for operations, Target Schweinfurt.
February 24 Weather: Cloudy with rain and drizale. Visibility moderate. Schweinfurt was an important target, it was a major manufacturing
Center for the ball bearing industry.
3 aircraft would not start,
7 aircraft reached and attacked the target.

The ground crew prepared the LV815, HX353, LH799, LW319,
LV795, LV794, LW507, LK748, lW510, LW517, LK762
and LW509 for this nights operation.

February 1944, 24^th

Returned early

HX355 EY-D

returned early owing to blind flying instruments . u/s
Furthest point reached at 50.07N/02.40E
( HX355 crashed in raid of 24 march '44)

Returned early

LV794 EY-O

returned early owing to vibrations of tail plane
at 52.12N/00.52E
( LV794 crashed tomorrow March 25, '44 )

Returned early

LW510

returned early owing to consuming to much fuel,
Furthest point reached at 49.40N/04.00E

Returned early

LK762

returned early owing to engine problems
at 50.08N/01.40E

Lost in Action

LW509 EY-T