March  1944

 15th

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

3 attack lines today.

863 aircraft, 617 Lancasters, 230 Halifaxes, 16 Mosquitoes. Taget Stuttgart

The German controller split his forces into 2 parts.  The bomber force flew over France nearly as far as the

Swiss frontier before turning north-east to approach Stuttgart.   This delayed th German fighters contacting

the bomber stream but, when the German fighters did arrive, just before Stuttgart was reached,

the usual fierce combats ensued.

37 aircraft, 27 Lancaster and 10 Halifaxes were lost. 4.2% of the force.

2 of the Lancasters force landed in Switzerland.

Adverse winds delayed the opening of the attack and the same winds may have been the cause of the

Pathfinder marking falling back well short of the target, despite the clear weather conditions.

Some of the early bombing fell in the centre of Stuttgart but most of it fell in open country south-west

of the city. The Akademie was damaged in the centre of Stuttgart and some housing was destroyed in the

south-western suburbs.

140 aircraft, 94 Halifaxes, 38 Sterlings, 8 Mosquitoes.   Target  Amiens railway yards.

2 Halifaxes and 1 Sterling lost.

22 Lancasters of 5 Group to an aero-engine factory at Woippy near Metz.   Attack abandoned.

Support and minor operations: 17 Mosquitoes to German targets and 10 Mosquitoes to airfieds in Holland.

2 C.R.M. sorties, 11 Serrate patrols, 2 Sterling minelaying off Texel,  31 aircraft on Resistance operations,

18 O.T.U. sorties.

Total effort for the night: 1116 sorties,  41 aircraft lost.

No.78 Squadron

23 aircraft detailed for operations, target Stuttgart, 19 aircraft reached and attacked the target

wich was identified by green and red T.I. markers.  The glow of fires could be seen trough

the clouds.   Crews reported P.F.F. markers not very concentraited, and in consequence the

attack was scattered.    Two aircraft returned early owing to fuel transfer pump to overload tanks

being u/s.   2 aircraft did not take off, One due to damege sustained on the tarmac when running

up,  and the other had rev. drop in one engine.

For this night the ground crew managed to get the LW518, LV815, LW515, HX355, LV788,

LV589, LV799, LK749, LV796, LW519, LV795, LV901, LW512, HW241, LV872, LV876, LV868,

LW510, LW511, LW512 and LK762 in the air.

No Aircrafts lost on this raid.

Returned early

LW518

F/S Carter returned early again due to a shortage of gasoline due to a defective fuel transfer pump. Farthest point reached 49.23N 00.07W.

Bombs thrown into the sea.   Landed again at Breighton airport at 22.39.

Returned early

LW512

F/S Hampson returned early after taking off at 19:09 due to fuel shortage due to fuel transfer pump failure.   Farthest point reached 48.16N 01.12E.

Bombs were thrown into the sea and, despite everything, they landed safely at Breighton at 23:37.

Landed

at Ford

LV796

F/S Bennet took to the airspace from Breighton Air Base at 18:59.    The bombs were dropped at 23:21 from an altitude of 22,000 ft after seeing 2 red T.I.s

The attack on Stuttgart seemed rather scattered.

On the way back they encountered problems with the port outer engine, which forced them to divert to Ford Air Base, where they landed at 2:15.

Landed

at Ford

LW241

F/O Harris took off from Breighton at 18:57 and wanted to have his Bombardier F/S Preece take over the aircraft at the location reached, but the bombardier equipment had failed so the bomb load was dropped on sight from a height at 23:30. of 21,000 ft

On the return journey there appeared to be a fuel shortage, which forced them to land at Ford Air Base at 2:33.

Landed

at Ford

LV515

F/S Buchanan took off from Breighton Air Base at 19:11. Cleared his bomb load from an altitude of 20,000 ft by his bomb aimer Sgt. McKenzie in the center of the T.I.'s and returned home.  Finally landed at Ford Air Base earlier at 2:10.

Landed

at Odiham

LV872

P/O Downs took off from Breighton at 19:21, bombing the primary target from an altitude of 20,000 ft at 23:30.

Was forced to land at Odiham air base, south-west of London, on the way back at 02:35.

Landed

at Odiham

LW511

F/S Cleas took off from Breighton Air Base at 19:19 pm. After a successful mission over Stuttgart he returned to England and finally landed at Odiham airfield at 02:45.

Landed

at Odiham

LV876

F/L Hurley took off from Breighton Air Base at 19:05 followed by bombardier F/S Malcolme

dropped the bombs on the target marked by the Pathfinders T.I.s at 23:34 at an altitude of 20,000 ft.

Ok for them, there was a measured shortage of fuel on the road, which also forced them to land at Odiham air base at 2:40 am.

Landed at

Stanton-Hartcastle

LW519

F/O Crawford took off from Breighton at 19:08  and landed back at Stanton-Hardcastle Air Base at 2:34  after a successful mission.

March 1944

16th

No Operations or standby for No.78 Squadron

17th

No Operations or standby for No.78 Squadron