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November 1943
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22nd
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This night there is no operation planned for William and his fellow crew-mates
For this night the JP117 was flewn by a different crew.
A force 764 aircraft attacked the central and western part of Berlin.
This was the most effective raid on Berlin by the RAF of the war,
causing extensive damage to the residential areas west of the centre,
Tiergarten and Charlottenburg, Schöneberg and Spandau.
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The weather over the target was 10/10ths cloud, but the pathfinders, relying on their H2s sets found and accurately marked the aiming point with their yellow and red Tis, set to detonate above the clouds. What followed was the most concentrated and destructive bombing raid over Berlin.
Due to bad weather over Germany, most of the night fighters were grounded and consequently the bomber losses were relative light.
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Squadron 78 |
17 aircraft detailed for operation, Target Berlin.
The LW235, LW220, LW313, LW300, JP118,
LW228, LW331, JP117, LW330 with Mid Upper Sgt. W. Idden, JP120, LW338, LW318, HR748, LW234, LW237, LW320 and LW319 were prepared for action by the ground crew.
At 16:30 hour the LW338 was first plane to take off and
18 minutes later the JP118 was the last one to join the force.
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November 22nd ,1943 |
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The Philharmonie Hall had been bombed during an attack on the night of November 22-23. The facade had been badly damaged, and so had the front rooms in which the irreplaceable music library had been kept. Important letters, files, documents, orginal scores - everything had been destroyed.
The concert hall itself remained intact, but the windows had been blown out, and glass, at the time, was not available. Besides, concerts could no longer be given there because high piles of rubble cut off the hall from the outside world. And before it could be cleared away, more bombs fell on the Philharmonie Hall on January 30, 1944, when the Anhalter Station, near the hall, was the target. This time the Philharmonie was completely wrecked.
From Wilhelm Furtwängler a biography by Curt Riess, 1955 |
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Returned early |
LW220 |
returned early owing to oxygen failure just after crossing the
Dutch-German border at Emmen and F/O capt. E. Everret
dropped his bombs at 52.46N / 07.20E before returning. |
Returned early |
LW330 EY-O |
returned owing to icing.
LW330 crashed later on the raid of 20 December 1943 |
Lost in Action
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LW319 EY-U
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Very seriously damaged by flak over the target and on
regaining the East Anglia coast, the pilot attempted to land at
RAF station Coltishall, Norfolk. while doing so, he lost control
and crashed 23.06 hour at Beeston Park, 3 miles NNE of
Norwich.
F/L Martin and P/O Salmon were both critically injured and
both died in hospital within twenty-four hours of the crash. All
who died were taken to their home towns for burial.
F/L R.F.Martin Injured Sgt. S.G.Bird KIA P/O F.E.G.Salmon
Injured F/O R.A.Blackwell KIA P/O A.Parlour Injured
Sgt. J.Taylor Sgt. J.Thompson RAAF Injured
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The Zoo Flak tower in Berlin
click here
for a instruction movie for bomber pilots, how to handle with Flak
(opens in a new window)
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November 1943 |
23th |
No Operations or standby for Squadon 78
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24th |
No Operations or standby for Squadon 78
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