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March 18, 1944
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March 24, 1944






Target:
Frankfurt

March  1944

 22th

Tonight is Williams Tenth operation and his first one after his crash on February 15th.

Together with a new group he went on his way to Frankfurt.

 

816 aircraft - 620 Lancasters, 184 Halifaxes, 12 Mosquitos. Again, an indirect route was employed, this time crossing the Dutch coast north of the Zuider Zee and then flying almost due south to Frankfurt.

This, and the Kiel mine laying diversion, confused the Germans for some time; Hannover was forecast  as the main target. Only a few fighters eventually found the bomber stream.  33 aircraft - 26 Lancasters, 7 Halifaxes - were lost.

    

The marking and bombing were accurate and Frankfurt suffered another heavy blow; the city's records show that the damage was even more severe than in the raid carried out 4 nights earlier.

Half of the city was without gas, water and electricity 'for a long period'. All parts of the city were hit but the

greatest weight of the attack fell in the western districts. The report particularly mentions severe damage

to the industrial areas along the main road to Mainz. 162 B-17s of the Eighth Air Force used Frankfurt as a

secondary target when they could not reach Schweinfurt 36 hour after this RAF raid and caused further

damage. The Frankfurt diary has this entry: "The three air raids of 18th, 22nd and 24th March were carried

out by a combined plan of the British and American air forces and their combined effect was to deal the  worst and most fateful blow of the war to Frankfurt, a blow which simply ended the existence of the Frankfurt  which had been built up since the Middle Ages."

 

20 Mosquitos bombing night-fighter airfields, 128 Halifaxes and 18 Stirlings minelaying in Kiel Bay and off

Denmark, 22 Mosquitos on diversion and harassing raids to Berlin, Dortmund, Hanover and Oberhausen,

16 RCM sorties and 16 Serrate patrols. 1 Halifax minelayer lost.

20 OTU Wellingtons carried out leaflet flights to France without loss.

No.78 Squadron

23 aircraft detailed for operations,   2 aircraft did not take off.

Weather in the country: Cloudy with occasional slight rain. Moderate to good visibility.

 

This night was the first flight for William Uyen after his crash on February 15. Together with a new group he went on his way to Frankfurt  The ground crew managed to prepare 10 aircraft for take off on  ' Gardening ' operation at Kiel Bay and 11 aircraft for take off to attack Frankfurt.

The HX355, LV788, LV820, LV903, HX241, LV899, LV872, LV876, LV868 and LV905

took the planed route to Kiel Bay

 

The LW515, LV815, LW515, LK749, LW507, LV795, LW512, LW510, LW511, LW520 and LK 762

were detailed for operation at Frankfurt.

 

One Aircraft, the LW512 was lost on the raid on Frankfurt.
The worst blow was yet to come: on 22 March 1944, another British air raid of 816 aircraft destroyed large parts of the old town that had previously been spared, including all churches except the Old Nikolaikirche and Leonhardskirche. According to official information, 500 air mines, 3,000 heavy explosive bombs and 1.2 million incendiary bombs were dropped on the city in just under an hour, with a clear focus on the city centre. As with previous air raids, this was part of the tactic: the majority of all houses in the old town were built in half-timbered construction, so that they largely burned completely in the unleashed firestorm. But patrician buildings from the Middle Ages built of stone, such as the canvas house or the stone house, were also destroyed by explosive devices.

 

Handley Page Halifax BIII

 

 LK749 EY-J

 

March   22th 1944

 Target Frankfurt

 Airborn:

 18:55 hour, Breighton Yorkshire.

 

 Bombing on:

 20500ft  at 22:29 hour.


 Landed:

 00:55 hour, Breighton Yorkshire.

 

 

 

 

 Crew LK749  EY-J

F/O Hudson, H.

(Capt)

 F/L Taylor, A

 (Nav)

 F/O Uyen, William

 (Bomb)

 Sgt. Monks, H.

 (W/Op)

 Sgt. Hillis, J.

 (F/Eng)

 

 Sgt. Nugent, Leslie

(MU)

 

 

 Sgt. Morris, J.

(RG)

 
The primary target was attacked and bombed at 22:02 hour, from a height of 20.500ft.
Target identified by P.F.F. TI markers, Bombed centre of two red T.I.s.
Large fires seen over target area.

(The LK749 crashed on March 26 1944 with a different crew.)

Returned early

LV788

F/L McGregor departed Breighton at 18:10, but returned early due to H2S equipment failure.    The furthest point was reached at 55:00N / 04:30E after which LV788 turned around and commenced the return flight, landing back at Breighton at 21:56.

 

Returned early

LV905 EY-W

F/S Lovatt took off from Breighton at 18:11, but he too had to turn back due to H2S failure. Farthest point reached 54:07N 00:05E Vegs. (bombs) returned to base.

The landing at Breihton air base followed at 21:34.

Returned early

LW515

F/S Buchanan took off from Breighton Air Base at 19:01. Returned early due to GEE equipment failure.  Farthest point reached 53:55N 02:10E.  Bombs safely dropped into the sea.

Landing at Breighton at 21:37.

Returned early

 

LW520

F/S Gills returned because the port outer engine had failed.

LW520 departed Breighton at 18:57.      Farthest point reached 53:55N / 02:10E.

Bombs were safely thrown into the sea and the return journey was started.

At 21:46, LW520 landed safely again at Breighton.
Hitler jugend is cleaning up the mess

Lost in Action

LW512 EY-Q

Sgt. Hampson departed Breighton Air Base at 19:07 for a mission to Frankfurt.

Is reported missing after being shot down by a JU88 night fighter, 1 POW, 6 killed.

One reference suggests that LW512 was attacked by a Ju88 but a second reference appears to more convincingl  suggest that the night fighter was a Me Bf110 flown by German Ace, Oblt. Martin "Tino" Becker, 2./NJG 6, whodeparted Finthen (Mainz) at 20:20 and returned at 23:13 having claimed a remarkable score of six aircraft shot down.

He was flying a Me Bf110 coded MK when he intercepted LW512 near Trier at 18,000 feet and shot it down at 22:39.

Out of control the bomber hit the ground near the town of Mohrweiler, Germany.

Airborne 19.07 hour from Breighton. Shot down by a Ju88 or BF110 from 18,000 feet near Trier. Out of control, the bomber plunged into the ground at Mohrweiler, 10 km NNE of Bitburg. Those killed are now buried in the Reichswald Forest War Cemetery.

Sgt S.Hampson KIA.    Sgt S.L.Toon KIA.    Sgt F.G.Rees KIA.    Sgt R.A.Renwick KIA.   Sgt P.F.Beard KIA. Sgt T.A.Liddy KIA.    Sgt S.A.Waterhouse PoW.    Sgt S.A.Waterhouse was interned in Camps L6/357, PoW No.3392

 

Only the rear gunner Sgt. S. A. Waterhouse managed to bail out. He was interned in Camps L6/357, PoW No.3392.

Again there is a discrepency as to some of the facts. One reference suggests that the rest of the crew was buried in the Reichswald Forest Cemetery while another shows the Rheinberg Cemetery, both of which are close to one another, the latter appearing to be the correct reference.

 

 March 1944

23th

 No Operations or standby for No.78 Squadron.
Franfurt am Mein is totally distroyed after the attacks of
britisch and later amarican bombers.
William Uyen
November 18, 1943           HisStory during the Air-battle of Berlin           March 31, 1944
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