6 Bomber Group September 26, 1944
133 Halifaxes from 408, 415, 420, 425, 426, 431, 432, and 434 squadrons were joined by 31 Lancasters from 419 and 428 squadron on an attack gun emplacements and troops at Calais. The crews were over the target at between 6,000 and 8,000 feet, releasing 1,710,000 lbs of high explosives. According to reports, bombing was accurate with the desired affect. Richard Koval (6bombergroup.ca)
26 September 1944, 5.00 to 8 a.m.
A large fireball gushed out of the exhaust of our starboard engine and the aircraft shook violently. I had just settled in to the turret and had completed my checks on the equipment after changing watches with Ken Graham, another of the three wireless air gunners in our crew. Ken had been in the rear turret and I had been on the radar set. We were on an antisubmarine patrol over the North Sea off the coast of Norway in our Vickers Wellington Mk XIV early in the morning of September 26th 1944. A hasty glance at the flames engulfing the engine confirmed my sudden fears that the plane was on fire
Click on the 6 Sacks of Potatoes link above to read the detailed account, by Warrant Officer Harvey Firestone, of the crash of Wellington NB811 and the crews" subsequent Evasion in German occupied Norway
