6 Group Unavailable
648 aircraft- 42 I Lancasters, 224 Halifaxes, 3 Mosquitoes - on the first major raid to this target. The German controller again followed the progress of the bomber stream across the North Sea and many night fighters were in the stream before it crossed the German coast. The controller was very slow to identify Magdeburg as the target but this did not matter too much because most of the night fighters were able to stay in the bomber stream, a good example of the way the Tame Boar tactics were developing. 57 aircraft - 35 Halifaxes, 22 Lancasters - were lost, 8·8 per cent of the force; it is probable that three quarters of the losses were caused by German night fighters. The Halifax loss rate was 15·6 per cent.
The heavy bomber casualties were not rewarded with a successful attack. Some of the Main Force aircraft now had H2S and winds which were stronger than forecast brought some of these into the target area before the Pathfinders' Zero Hour. The crews of 27 Main Force aircraft were anxious to bomb and did so before Zero Hour. The Pathfinders blamed the fires started by this early bombing, together with some very effective German decoy markers, for their failure to concentrate the marking. No details are available from Magdeburg but it is believed that most of the bombing fell outside the city. An R.A.F. man who was in hospital at Magdeburg at the time reports only, 'bangs far away'.The Bomber Command War Diaries, Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt
433 Porcupine Squadron (Qui S'y Frotte S'y Pique) RAF Skipton-on-Swale. Halifax BIII aircraft HX 283 was shot down over the target while on a raid to the synthetic oil plants at Magdeburg, Germany.
Sergeant SJ Swain (RCAF), Flight Lieutenant AG Jira (RCAF), Flying Officer RJ McMehen (RCAF), Flying Officer BA Russell (RCAF), Pilot Officer JJMM Couture (RCAF), Sergeant FJ Seeley (RAFVR), and JC Webber (RAFVR) were all killed in action
This was one of two 433 Squadron Halifax III aircraft lost this night, the first operational losses by this squadron. Please see Wilson, JA for information on Halifax HX 289 BM-T
Daily Operations 6bombergroup.ca