Strike/Ops

Brief anatomy of Vaires raid, 29/30 March 1944 (1 of 2)

The following raid took place on 29/30 March 1944, it will be a series of picture's, documents, eyewitness accounts. This first picture is only part of 3 pages of text which I typed out for legibility.

SECRET

NIGHT RAID REPORT NO. 566

COPY NO. 5

BOMBER COMMAND REPORT ON NIGHT OPERATIONS

29/30^TH MARCH 1944

VAIRES M/Y : Lyons : Kiel : Cologne : Aachen : Krefeld SUMMARY

1. 84 Halifaxes and Mosquitos were sent to attack the marshalling yards at Vaires, in the Paris area. They bombed the target most accurately in bright moonlight, causing enormous damage. There was little opposition. One Halifax was lost.

2. 19 lancasters went to the aero-engine factory at Lyons, and hit it very severely. 16 of the 22 buildings were damaged. Mosquitos raided Kiel and industrial targets in western Germany. No other losses were sustained.

WEATHER FORECAST

3. Midnight frontal positions:- Cold from 55N.05w. – Barrow – Clacton – Stuttgart.

Bases: At 2230 10/10ths to 12,000 ft. South of Wash. Broken cloud at 2-3,000 ft. further N. After midnight, all bases will have well broken cloud and moderate to good visibility.

Germany :- Convection cloud to 15,000 ft. over North Sea, penetrating inland to 09d.E., but becoming broken southwards. Extensive clearness between 09-12dE., and N. of 50dN. Much cloud further E. and S. Brunswick: at least 7/10ths.

France: Little cloud except in extreme N.E. Shoot of strato-cumulus will reach Paris at about 2200.

PLAN OF ATTACK

4. Route Selsey Bill – 5000N 0115E – Target 4845N 0245E – 4910N 0300E – 5000 0115E – Selsey Bill.

5. Method of Attack: 2 OBOE Mosquitos on channel 1 and 2 on channel 3 were to mark the aiming-point with red T.I. The main forces were to aim at the centre of all reds, with normal bombsight setting. Line of approach: 322 deg.

6. Timing Zero hour: 2130

Duration of attack: 2128-2200

1 Mosq. @ z-2

1 Mosq. @ z

41 Hals. @ z to z+6

1 Mosq.- @ z+10

1 Mosq.- @ z+12

37 Hals. @ z+12 to z+18

1 Mosq. @ z+22

1 Mosq. @ z+24

Reserve Period @ z+24 to z+30

7. Tactics Bombing height: 12-13,000 ft. aircraft were to bring their bombs back if no markers were visible. If unable to attack in the first or second waves, they were to bomb in the reserve period. Mosquitos were to drop 24 bundle each of WINDOW in the target area; other aircraft, 1 bundle per minute from 0030E and back, but 2 per minute in the target area. 1 reserve was to accompany each mosquito.

SORTIES

8. No. of aircraft despatched: 84

No. of aircraft reporting attack on Primary Area: 77 (91.7%)

No. of abortive sorties: 6 (7.1%)

No. of aircraft missing: 1 (1.2%)

WEATHER EXPERIENCED

9. Bases: As forecast

Route: 10/10ths over channel and N. France, tops 12-13,000`, with static and light rime. Cloud broke N. of Paris.

Target: Clear below cirrus levels. Half moon. Haze. Moderate visibility.

Wind at 16,000 ft. 300 deg. /45 m.p.h.

NARRATIVE OF ATTACK

10. The Mosquito timing was uneven, and the first did not bomb until z+8, but at z+1 the second aircraft dropped markers only 263 yards from the aiming-point. The second pair of Mosquitos did not attack until z+19 and z+21, All the main force which should have attacked in the second wave joined the first force. The markers were clearly visible, and the bombing was well concentrated around them.

DAY RECONNAISSANCE

11. Exceptionally severe and widespread was caused. 121 hits were scored on the south marshalling sidings, 44 on the forwarding sidings and 33 on the north marshalling sidings. In the centre of the forwarding sidings an area measuring 250 x 125 yards was completely devastated, apparently by the explosion of two munitions trains. 3 of the 6 bays of the engine sheds were destroyed, and the roads to the locomotive turntable and the cooling tower were out. The cool yard offices and the upper storeys of the drivers and firemen's quarters were gutted. 8 craters were visible on the transshipment sidings. Various subsidiary buildings were damaged, and much rolling stock was destroyed.

ENEMY DEFENCES

12. A few fighters were seen to the N.E. of Paris, but no combats were reported. A little heavy and light flak was fired from the target.

CASUALTIES

13. One Halifax was lost without a trace. No other damage was sustained.

LYONS

14. 19 Lancasters of 5 group attacked the S.I.G.M.A. aero-engine components works at Lyons in clear weather. The target was accurately marked with red spot fires, and the aircraft attacked from 10,000’ under the instructions of the master bomber. No defences were met, and all the aircraft returned undamaged. Photographs showed very grave damage, involving 16 of the 22 building, some of which were completely destroyed.

KIEL

15. 32 non-OBOE mosquitos were dispatched to Kiel. 2 Y-aircraft dropped T.I. on H2S, and these were bombed by most of the other aircraft. The attack was reported as concentrated . From this and all other mosquito raids on this night., all aircraft returned undamaged.

COLOGNE

16. 4 ALBUM LEAF Mosquitos attacked Cologne, all making successfully controlled runs.

AAchen

17. 5 MK.I Mosquitos were sent to Aachen. One attacked on OBOE and 3 on D.R> or E.T.A. The fifth abandoned its task for technical reasons.

KREFELD

18. 4 MK.I, 3 PENWIPER, 3 ALBUN LEAF and 1 FOUNTAIN PEN Mosquitos were detailed against the Edel stool works at Krefeld. All made successfully controlled runs.

MLM/MTA

BC/S.26342/4/ORS4

4^th July, 1944

_____________________________________________________________________________

Here is the corresponding O.R.B. from the W/O1 Mike Laffin Crew

Aircraft: Halifax V

Coded: WL - G

Numbers: LK - 992

Time up: 1835

Down: 0055

DETAILS OF SORTIE

Target: VAIRES. Primary. 2148 hrs. 12,700 ft 220 M. IAS 160 Haze over T/A. Ident. target by red T.I`s cascading to the ground and land. Bombed T.I`s red. A large explosion seen in T/A, smoke up to 10,000 ft. and fires seen afterwards. PFF was 4 mins. late so we made an orbit and bombed in second wave.

Vaires Turn-Table (2 of 2)

Vaires Bombing Raid 29/30 March 1944

Recon photo taken by 541 Squadron. There were a number of photos, due to space all were not posted and it was a very large railroad yard.

See the following "Bomber Command Report On Night Operations"

Courtesy Alex Nicolsky

Search lights at Wilhelmshaven, Germany.

The searchlight photo was taken at Wilhelmshaven, Germany.

On the back is written... "Luftangrif auf Wilhelmshaven" (Attack on Wilhelmshaven).

These searchlights could easily cone a bomber at an altitude of 20,000 feet, then the flak would pour in. Should the bomber escape the flak barrage, then a nightfighter would be in close proximity in hopes of preventing the bomber's escape.

With permission from ARGA, Thank you

Hanover - Perks crew 12

Perks Crew - Hanover

Matver - Flewelling crew 23

Flewelling Crew - Matver

Arras - McQueen crew 52

McQueen Strike photo - Arras

Three aircrews "F.T.R." from this raid to Arras

Crew 76 - Wing Commander Chris Bartlett

Crew 84 - P/O F. Tandy

Crew 79 - P/O W. Wood

Macdcburt - McQueen Crew 52

Strike Photo from McQueen Aircraft on Macdburt

Pilot P/O R. Kerr and his Crew (65) "F.T.R." from this raid on the 21/22 January 1944, all were killed.

Villeneuve - Hammond crew 64

Hammond Crew - Villeneuve

Bremont - Frith crew 75

Frith Crew - Bremont

Lapallice - Woods crew 108

Woods Crew - La Pallice

11 Aug. 1944

Dresden - Ecclestone crew 106

Dresden - Ecclestone crew 106

Hagan - Wagman crew 115

Hagan - Wagman crew 115

Duisburg - Wagman crew 115

Duisburg - Wagman crew 115

Duisburg - Telford crew 116

Duisburg - Telford crew 116

Duisberg - Chapman crew 120

Duisberg - Chapman crew 120

Munich - Blackburn crew 124

Cologne - Blackburn crew 124

Hanover - Alger crew 125

Mannheim - Francis crew 127

Koln - Henry crew 129

Zeitz - Barr crew 134

Karlsruhe - Burden crew 135

Mersburg - Ferris crew 136

Zeitz - Ferris crew 136

Karlsruhe - Rothenbush crew 139

Hagan - Coghlan crew 141

Hanover - Coghlan crew 141

Osnabruck - Marlow crew 142

Soest - Hall crew 143

Hamburg - Kitchen crew 144

Kitchen Crew - Hamburg Germany

Duisberg - Murray crew 146

Nurnberg - Bennett crew 148

Flak over Hamburg, March 1945 - Glazer crew 158

Flak bursts greet crew 158 over Hamburg

This photo was snapped out of the upper turret and the tail fin is visible. F/O Ken McMillan W-AG was utilized as a spare for the F/O B.B. Glazer crew (158) for a daylight raid as thier W-AG could not make the flight due to illness. This was Ken's first flight for the beginning of his second tour, 31 March 1945, he recalls that a number of crews experienced attacks by the Luftwaffe's ME-262 fighter jets.

Photo courtesy F/O Ken McMillan

Leipzig - Dawson crew 160

Dawson Crew - Leipzig

Target Token - Dundas crew 161

"Target Token"

The Dundas crew 161 was awarded a "Target Token" for the best photo of a bomb drop on a target, Leipzig - 10 April 1945.

F/O Dundas E.

F/O Heaney H.

F/O MacRae N.

F/O McMillan K.

P/O Johnson B.

P/O Squair B.

P/O Wilkinson E.

Photo courtesy F/O Ken McMillan

(Note: Due to photo fade I re-scanned bottom left corner and inserted after darkening names)

Cologne, Germany 1945

Cologne Germany - 1945

Photo courtesy F/O Ken McMillan, crew 161.

Leipzig - Hooper crew 168

Hooper Crew - Leipzig