Overview
A busy and costly week for RAF Wickenby, attacks were made on Cologne, Chemnitz, Dessau and Kassel as well as minelaying in the Baltic Sea. There was also a big attack by German night fighters over eastern England on the 3 March, which resulted in 2 Wickenby aircraft being shot down. The total losses for the week were 4 aircraft lost, 23 aircrew killed and 5 becoming POW’s.
The mission to Cologne was the last one the RAF carried out to that city as it was captured by American forces 4 days later.
The German night fighter attack was called Operation Gisela, and lasted two and a half hours – during that time 13 Halifaxes, 9 Lancasters, one Fortress and one Mosquito were shot down. The Germans also straffed anything that moved on the ground, killing 17 civilians and wounding 12 seriously. Five German aircraft were lost over England and 3 more crashed returning to their home bases. One crew of four (with a ground engineer who hitched a lift) were killed shooting up a civilian car, near Welton, driven by a member of the Royal Observer Corps, hitting overhead wires and crashing onto the car, killing the driver Mr J.P. Kelway and all the crew. The crew are buried in Scampton village church cemetery.
Extract from Station Diary
Extract from 12 Sqn Appendix to Operational Record Book
RAF Wickenby - This week in history - World War 2 