6 Bomber Group October 14, 1944
40 Lancasters from 419 and 428 squadron, were joined by 218 Halifaxes from 408, 415, 420, 424, 425, 426, 427, 429, 431,432, 433, and 434 squadrons. They were ordered on a daylight attack of Duisberg. The crews were over the target at between 17,000 and 21,000 feet, releasing 2,080,000 lbs of high explosives and 300,000 lbs of incendiaries. Richard Koval (6bombergroup.ca)
'!'his raid was part of a special operation which has received little mention in the history books. On 13 October, Sir Arthur Harris received the directive for Operation Hurricane:'In order to demonstrate to the enemy in Germany generally the overwhelming superiority of the Allied Air Forces in this theatre ... the intention is lo apply within the shortest practical period the maximum effort of the Royal Air Force Bomber Command and the VIIIth United States Bomber Command against objectives in the densely populated Ruhr.' Bomber Command had probably been forewarned of the directive because it was able to mount the first part of the operation soon after first light on 14 October. No heavy bombers had flown on operations for 48 hours and 1,013 aircraft - 519 Lancasters, 474 Halifaxes and 20 Mosquitoes " were dispatched to Duisburg with R.A.F. fighters providing an escort. 957 bombers dropped 3,574 tons of high explosive and 820 tons of incendiaries on Duisburg, 14 aircraft were lost - 13 Lancasters and 1 Halifax; it is probable that the Lancasters provided the early waves of the raid and drew the attention of the German Flak before the Flak positions were overwhelmed by the bombing.
For their part in Operation Hurricane, the American Eighth Air Force dispatched 1,251 heavy bombers escorted by 749 fighters. More than 1,000 of the American heavies bombed targets in the Cologne area. American casualties were 5 heavy bombers and i fighter. No Luftwaffe aircraft were seen.
source: The Bomber Command War Diaries, Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt
419 Moose Squadron (Moosa Aswayita). Target - Duisburg, Germany. The crew of Lancaster aircraft B 800 had started the daylight bomb run when they were hit by flak which knocked off a piece of the wing and set both starboard engines on fire. The aircraft went out of control and just as the order to bail out was given the aircraft exploded and then crashed at Lohmannsheide, Germany.
Flying Officer J.N. Therreault, P/Os R.G. Manwell, L.C. Levasseur, H. Sigal R.H. Bowen, and Pilot Officer G. Adams (RAF) were killed. The pilot, Flying Officer A.M. Roy had this to say, "Flak hit our wing and both engines caught fire so I ordered a bail out. The aircraft exploded and I was blown out and came to at about 5,000 feet. I landed among a bunch of flak gunners and was taken Prisoner of War. I didn't know what happened to my crew until after the war."
Bomber Command Museum Monthly ORB
