Expanded Notes Pages 33&34

 4th Op, Hagen
    Middlebrook : "Most of the bombing was in the central, eastern and southern areas of Hagen. There were 53 large fires. Classed as destroyed or seriously damaged were: 1658 houses, 92 industrial buildings, 21 schools, 14 cultutral buildings, 5 hospitals, 5 banks, etc.
    "The effect upon industrial production was serious. Many of the firms shown in the Hagen report are recorded as having lost up to 3 months production. In addition, it was found by the Allies after the war that a factory making U-boat accumulator batteries - of which large numbers were required  by the new types of  U-boats - was completely destroyed in this raid."
    1 Halifax out of 394 = <1%
Group 6 Daily Operations Report

 "Bad Icing"  Dunmore&Carter ,: "Icing conditions often lurked in the clouds over Yorkshire. While air temperatures hovered around the freezing mark, the clouds themselves could be colder; a passing aircraft would be the catalyst to set the deadly process in motion. The chilly droplets of moisture from the cloud would adhere instantly to the wings and tail unit, propellers, antennae,     and windows. The crew could do nothing about it (wartime bombers carried no de-icing equipment) except find a safer, drier part of the sky. Not only could the ice add tons of weight to aircraft usually loaded to capacity and beyond, but it formed a coating that literally changed the shape of the flying surfaces. An aircraft can only stay aloft when its wings and tail are able     to shape the speeding air to create lift. Iced  up, a thirty-ton bomber was just so much metal and rubber,     high explosive and fuel, tumbling out of the sky, the crew unable to do anything but jump for their lives."

    bomb load 1 x 2000 HC = High Capacity
    *      6 x 1000  SAPs = Semi Armour Piercing  (does this mean they get through all the armour half the time,  half the armour all the time or just half way through the armour?)

5th Ops to Karlsruhe   "Excellent Prang"
Middlebrook : "The marking and bombing were accurate and severe damage was caused, particularly in the southern and western districts of the city. Among individual buildings destroyed were the important Durlacher machine tool factory, the main Protestant church and the concert  hall.
        bomb load 1 x 2000
    *      14x 14 cluster
    "2 attacks - ME109 JU188"   German fighters   More than you ever wanted to know about German Night Fighters
    0 Halifaxes lost out of 154
Group 6 Daily Operations Report

6th Ops to Soest
 Middlebrook : "This was a successful raid with the local report confirming that  most of the bombing was in the northern part of town where the railway installations were situated. Approximately 1000 houses and 53 other buildings were destroyed..."
    bomb load    2 x 1000 lb GP
                         7 x 1000 lb SAP
         total           9000 lb
    "Fighters" not clear, probably enemy fighters since night Ops unlikely to have Allied fighter cover
    2 halifaxes lost out of 385 = <1%
Group 6 Daily Operations Report
 
7th Ops to Osnabruck
 Osnabruck  a town in the Prussian province of Hanover 70 mi.W of the city of Hanover at the junction of the Hmburg-Cologne and Berlin-Amsterdam lines. Pop.(1939} 98,731. Manufactures include machinery, paper, celluloid, chemicals, ... .it has large iron and steel works and coal mines in the neighbourhood.

  Middlebrook : "...the raid was only a partial success. The railway yards were only slightly damaged but 4 factories were hit including the Teuto-Metallwerke munitions factory, and 203 houses were destroyed..."
    7 Halifaxes lost out of 363 = 2%
    1 from 429 Sqdn
Group 6 Daily Operations Report
    -ferrying aircraft from base to base.

 8 Ops to Duisberg
    Middlebrook : "... badly hit again. 346 houses were destroyed and 524 seriously damaged; industrial premises were probably hit also but few details are available."
    8/418 = 2%

"10 Mins Late"  There are several implications to arriving late over the target. First, and least important, is the issue of professional pride. The airmen took pride not only in getting their assigned job done, but in getting it done as specified in their orders. Being late might be seen as the fault of one crew member, or several, failing to fulfil their duties with maximum efficiency. Lateness might also reduce the effectivenes of their bombing. By ten minutes after the bombing was supposed to end, any "sky-markers" would be long gone and any Target Indicators on the ground would be burned out or obscured by dust and smoke from the main force bombing. This is probably why they " Bombed on GEE " on this occasion.
Lateness also had implictions in terms of safety. A lone bomber over the target would attract all the searchlights and all the flak. Though night fighters tried to work their way into the main bomber stream, lone stragglers were always more prone to being picked off because they lacked the safety in numbers afforded by the main stream. Also, being alone meant there were no other bombers nearby to divert the fighter if his first attack was repelled.
Group 6 Daily Operations Report