March  1944

 13th

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

213 Halifaxes and 9 Mosquitos of Nos 4,6 and 8 Groups on a repeat raid to Le Mans. 1 Halifax lost.

The local report shows that the Maroc Station and two nearby factories were severely damaged, with many lines being cut and 15 locomotives and 800 wagons being destroyed.

39 Mosquitos to 5 German targets, with the largest raid being by 26 aircraft to Frankfurt, 4 RCM sorties,

4 Serrate patrols, 25 Stirlings and 10 Halifaxes minelaying off French Channel ports,

19 aircraft on Resistance operations, 21 OTU sorties.

No.78 Squadron

21 aircraft detailed for operations, Target Le Mans.   2 aircraft did not take off.

18 aircraft reached and attacked target, mostly at 14.000 feet.

1 aircraft was hit by flak and lost in battle.

Weather: Cloudy becoming fair to fine. Visibility 20-30 miles.

The ground crew of squadron 78 prepared 21 aircraft for this night.

But only the LV815, HX355, LV788, LV820, LW589, LK749, LW517, LW519, LV795, LV911, LW512, LV899, LV872, LV877 (with Sgt. LeBlanc), LV876, LV868, LW510, LW511, LK762 and the LW518 managed to take off from Breighton airfield for there run to the targe.

One Aircraft, the LW517 was lost on this raid.

Returned early

LW518

F/S Carter took to the airspace at 19:14  from Breighton Air Base.

But because the fuel pump showed defects he had to turn back due to a shortage of petrol, the furthest point reached 49.23N/00.07W just above Dozulé, France. East of Cean.

Bombs thrown into the sea and landed again at Breighton at 22:39.

 Lost in Action

LW517 EY-Y

The LW517 from W/O K.F.Withers was hit and badly damaged by intense Flak,    2 POW, and 5 killed.

Airborne 22.41 hour from Breighton, tasked to bomb railway facilities.

Hit by Flak at 14,000 feet, crashing in the target area.

Those killed are buried in Le Mans West Cemetery. Sgt McMillan had gained an Immediate

DFM during recent operations to Magdeburg, details Gazetted 15 Feb '44.

W/O K.F.Withers RAAF KIA,    Sgt A.Currie KIA.     Sgt A.A.Jeffries PoW,    F/S G.Tipping PoW,

Sgt E.Buckland KIA,    Sgt A.Cantle-Jones KIA,    Sgt D.W.McMillan DFM KIA.

This was one of the first aircraft lost in what are referred to as Transportation Plan opera tions, designed to

cripple the rail networks of the occupied countries in the run up to the Normandy Landings.

Sgt A.A.Jeffries was interned in Camps L6/357, PoW No.3782 with F/S G.Tipping, PoW No.3461.

March 1944

14th

No Operations or standby for No.78 Squadron