大象传媒

LUCKY THIRTEEN. This sortie was to be called Number 12A until it was finished.
Hanau, our target, was located about twenty five miles east of Frankfurt-on-Main, a very important highway and railway centre, with the bulk of the german military traffic to and from the Western front passing through here. Included in our load were four 1000 pound high explosive bombs, each equipped with long delay anti-handling devices. After dropping, these would explode at a pre-determined time and could not be defused. They could throw a highway or rail centre into chaos because enemy authorities had no way of knowing when they would explode.
Taking off at 02.48 hours in IQ-Sugar, we encountered only slight flak in the target area. My after bombing check 20 minutes after leaving the target made us realise that no flight was routine. A light showed at one of the stations on the bombing panel, and sure enough, it was a 1,000 pounder with a long delay anti handling device still aboard. We knew that the timing device was activated when we first put the switches down prior to the target run. We were not at all happy about having this live bomb aboard, so we attempted to shake it off while over Germany, and again over the North Sea, without success.
Knowing that the delay was set for five hours from the time of fusing, we contacted base as we crossed the English coast. We received instructions to come straight home and that we would have landing priorities. Doc set sugar down like a feather seven and a half hours after take off, and we quickly moved off the runway where we were met by trucks and technicians from the Armament Section. The bomb was loaded onto a truck, and with sirens screaming took off to a boggy area on a field several miles distant. In exactly 47 minutes after being unloaded it went off with a terrific explosion which could be heard for miles.
I guess you can understand why we called this raid the 鈥渓ucky thirteenth鈥�

A SCARY LANDING. At the 08.00 hours briefing on March 22nd we found that our target was to be the town of Hildesheim, 25 miles south east of Hanover. The objective of the raid was to hinder it as a transport centre, destroy military barracks and knock out the electricity and gas works.
We took off in IQ-Sugar at 11.25 hours under beautiful weather conditions which persisted to the target and back. R.A.F. Mustang fighters escorted us from their bases in Belgium and Holland to the target. It was absolutely great to be able to look around and see all the Lancasters and Halifaxes heading towards Germany in daylight with the protecting fighter planes in the distance.
In these daylight raids, the bombers usually flew in a loose formation of aircraft known as a 鈥済aggle鈥� behind a Vic of three leaders. Upon these three crews rested the navigational responsibility of the whole gaggle. Their course and timing had to be perfect if the bombers were to reach the target at the correct time, with the proper concentration and with the planned fighter cover.
It was clear over the target, and one was able to follow the bombs as they fell until they struck the ground and exploded. With the Master Bomber directing the raid was highly successful. Flak was very accurate on the way into the target, and this observer saw two Lancasters going down in flames. Our crew saw no enemy fighters, but apparently there were some vicious battles between opposing fighters near the tail end of the attack.
After a routine trip back to base, we landed behind a bomber about half way down the runway. He did not run to the end as he should have done, but slowed down rapidly. We were roaring up behind him and a crash looked inevitable, but Doc put on full power, pulled back on the control column and we staggered into the air. I was still in the nose and felt that I could have patted the pilot on the head as we went over the plane. One of the rules was that the bomb aimer came out of the nose and seated himself behind the pilot on landing. We touched down for the second time on this raid 5 hours and 15 minutes after the original take-off.
RAIDS FIFTEEN AND SIXTEEN. On March 25th, twelve bombers from 150 Squadron and ten from 170 Squadron, along with 240 more from Command, took off to attack Hanover, about 100 miles south west of Hamburg. This was another daylight raid where we were to pick up our Mustang fighter escort over Holland. On leaving the English coast, we climbed through cloud for many thousands of feet. Finally we broke through into brilliant sunshine with solid cloud cover beneath us. We must have cruised five minutes without seeing another plane, and we started to wonder if there had been a recall to base, or if the operation had been scrubbed and we had missed the message.
Just the planes started to pop out of the clouds, here, there, all over the place; what a beautiful sight! In a few more minutes we spotted our fighter escort, and that definitely eased our earlier worries. They accompanied us right through the target, but no enemy planes came up to challenge.
Despite considerable ground fire the raid was quite successful. The heavily loaded freight yards received a good share of the bombs and many industrial plants producing tyres, acetylene welders, paints and vulcanisers were hit repeatedly.
Our aircraft, IQ-Willie, took off at 06.35 hours and arrived back safely 5 hours and 50 minutes later.
On March 27th, IQ-Willie took off at 14.50 hours to attack Paderborn, about 100 south west of Hanover, in another daylight raid. Two hundred and twenty bombers along with fighter escort participated in this raid. Visibility was good en route to and from the target. No flak or fighters were observed, and other than one bomber which crash landed in the Wash off the East Coast, no losses due to enemy action occurred. We landed at Hemswell five hours after lift off.
Reconnaissance a day or so later revealed that rail and highway facilities had been left in ruins.

RAID SEVENTEEN 鈥� A TASTE OF JETS. On five previous daylight raids on German targets, no enemy fighters had been seen. Today was to be different. Our crew, again flying IQ-Willie, took off at 06.20 hours on March 31st to attack Hamburg. Four hundred and fifty aircraft were assigned to attack the Blohm and Voss shipbuilding yards.
Due to heavy cloud cover the Master Bomber called for sky marking, and this led to an improvement in concentration of bombing. Flak was very heavy during the early stages of the attack, but gradually tapered off. During the middle of the attack our bombers were fairly free from attack by enemy fighters, but the Pathfinder force at the beginning and then later in the attack along with the stragglers, came under attack from the new twin jet, the ME 262. Weather had cleared somewhat and it was scary, yet fascinating, to see those jets rising almost vertically from near ground level. Five Lancasters were shot down, but the bomber gunners and fighter escorts gave a good account of themselves, shooting down four jets and damaging others. We were very fortunate that these jets had not been in production sooner or the final results might have been different.
All planes from 150 Squadron arrived safely back at base a few minutes before noon.

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