14-20 January 1944

Posted on by propatria27

Overview

Both squadrons took part in 2 operations this week, to Brunswick and Berlin – 3 aircraft and all their crews were lost on the Brunswick attack. 38 Lancasters were lost on the Brunswick raid, 7.6% of the force, which was higher than normal, with the German controllers successfully deploying fighters all the way in and out. Neither attack was successful, unfortunately, with thick cloud cover over Berlin (a not unusual occurrence) and 11 Pathfinders were lost attacking Brunswick.

Extract from Station Diary

The crew of JB141 who were killed during the Brunswick operation on the night of 14/15 January 1944. There is a very moving and interesting web site, dedicated to this crew, compiled by Reg Gibson, which can be found here -> https://juliaandrichard.wixsite.com/jb141

Pilot Officer Bob Yell and 4 of his crew during training. They were all killed on their 30th operation on 14/15 January 1944. If they had completed that trip, it would have meant being taken off operations in order to train new aircrew. L to R: Ken Middlemiss – Nav, Joe Nutt – W/O, Bob Yell – Pilot, Tom Finch – B/A – Sid Bates – R/G

Extract from 12 Sqn Appendix to Operational Record Book

Extract from 626 Sqn Appendix to Operational Record Book

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