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Cyril Moore
No.142 Squadron RAF Binbrook,
Lincolnshire
31st October 1941 to 30th November 1941
 Cyril’s first posting as operational Aircrew after training was to No. 142 Squadron at RAF Binbrook. The airfield was near the village of Binbrook just a few miles south west of Grimsby, Lincolnshire. It only had a grass runway so take off and landings were bumpy. No. 142 Squadron originally used the slow obsolescent ground attack bomber Fairey Battles. They had been engage in attacks on French, Belgium and Dutch ports where German invasion shipping was mustered. The squadron suffered high casualties. It had been based it RAF Eastchurch in Kent. The Squadron needed new planes, more pilots and aircrew. Cyril was part of the new batch of aircrew recruits.
The Squadron was re-equipped with Wellington Bombers and moved to a new base at RAF Binbrook. The Squadron code on their aircraft was QT. RAF Binbrook was closed at the end of November 1941 so that hard concrete runways could be built over the bumpy grass airstrip. Additional accommodation was also built on the airfield to provide for a maximum of 2,298 male and 420 female personnel. During the construction work the Squadron went to RAF Waltham (Grimsby) but Cyril was posted to a different Sqadron at RAF Molesworth. After the war Binbrook airfield was selected as the location for filming the remake of Memphis Belle the B-17 flying Fortresses. If you see the film again
try to imagine Cyril taking off on night operations.
During the first five operations a new crew was ten times more likely to not return from an operation due to lack of experience. Once a crew survived 20 ops, the odds were thought to be about even. Aircrew in Squadrons based in England were often able to take leave during a tour of duty. In many squadrons the rule was "no leave until 5 operations are complete", but normally aircrew received one week's leave every six weeks. Most airmen went "home" to wives or parents and it was nothing unusual for a son or husband to turn up at little or no notice with a crewmate or two along, especially if these were Canadians or Australians, sampling British home life.
Crews on Squadrons based outside of England were not so fortunate. The crews were generally granted a one week rest period in the middle of their tour of operations.
CYRIL'S OPERATIONAL FLYING LOG - No. 142 Squadron RAF Binbrook
OCTOBER 1941
In October 1941, No.142 Squadron replaced its Merlin powered Wellington Mk IIs with the newer Wellington Mk IVs
31st October 1941
11.15hrs took off in Wellington Z1281 flown by Sgt Cooney & Sgt Carrel. Posted Air Gunner, Normal Flight Test, Flying time 30 minutes
31st October 1941 – Night Bombing Operation Hamburg (1 of 48)
18.35hrs took off in Wellington Z1281 flown by Sgt Cooney & Sgt Carrel. Posted Air Gunner, This was Cyril’s first bombing mission.
Flew to Hamburg (Northern Germany) and bombed the railway, Flying time 6 hours 30 minutes
(One of the other crews reported in their flight log for the same operation that their Wellington Bomber was armed with 6 cases of 4 lb incendiaries, two 500 lb and one 250 lb GP bombs. As they flew over the North sea there was 10/10ths cloud cover up until 5,000 feet and it increased up to 10,000 feet as there neared the enemy coast. They had to do a square search to find the River Elbe land mark. They then used this to plot their way to the target. There was cloud over the target. 8/10ths cloud cover at 10,000 feet and 10/10ths thin stratus cloud at 16,000 feet which made pin pointing the target in the town difficult. Certainly hit target area. The bomb bursts were not seen. Hamburg is Germany’s major Navel and Commercial port. It has a large industrial area and was continually targeted throughout the war by the RAF & USAAF. The bombing of Hamburg was given the codename Operation Gomorrah)
NOVEMBER 1941
2nd November 1941
12.30hrs took off in Wellington Z1281 flown by Sgt Cooney & Sgt Carrel. Posted Air Gunner, Normal Flight Test, Flying time 30 minutes.
3rd November 1941
10.36hrs took off in Wellington Z1281 flown by Sgt Cooney & Sgt Carrel. Posted Air Gunner, Normal Flight Test, Flew to RAF Holme and back, Flying time 1 hour.
3rd November 1941
15.05hrs took off in Wellington Z1281 flown by Sgt Cooney & Sgt Carrel. Posted Air Gunner, Flew Circuits and practiced landings in the dark, Flying time 1 hour.
6th November 1941
10.40hrs took off in Wellington Z1281 flown by Sgt Cooney & Sgt Carrel. Posted Air Gunner, Normal Flight Test, Flying time 45 minutes.
7th November 1941
10.50hrs took off in Wellington Z1281 flown by Sgt Cooney & Sgt Carrel. Posted Air Gunner, Normal Flight Test, Flying time 1 hour 20 minutes.
7th November 1941 - Night Bombing Operation Mannheim (2 of 48)
18.35hrs took off in Wellington Z1281 flown by Sgt Cooney & Sgt Carrel. Posted Air Gunner, This was Cyril’s 2nd bombing mission.
Flew to Mannheim and bombed (Mannheim is in Germany just south of Frankfurt), Flying time 7 hours 35 minutes
(One of the other crews reported in their flight log for the same operation that their Wellington Bomber was armed with 360 4 lb incendiaries and two 500 lb GP bombs. Mannheim had a number of industrial factories including a chemical plant. The old town was also attacked)
8th November 1941
16.00hrs took off in Wellington Z1315 flown by Sgt Carrel. Posted Air Gunner, Normal Flight Test in the dark, Flying time 45 minutes.
8th November 1941 - Night Bombing Operation Essen (3 of 48)
18.20hrs took off in Wellington Z1315 flown by Sgt Cooney & Sgt Carrel. Posted Air Gunner, This was Cyril’s 3rd bombing mission.
Flew to Essen but did not bomb due to oxygen failure, had
to turn back (Essen is in Germany just North of Köln in the Rhine
industrial area), Flying time 1 hours 30 minutes
(Essen, lies in the German Industrial Ruhr Valley, sarcastically known as ‘Happy Valley' to aircrew. It contained many large munitions factories and was considered to be one of the worst targets in Germany. There was a danger of being picked up by German radar and then coned by the search lights. Once you were coned you were considered a goner as there was a high concentration of the German anti-aircraft fire (flak). With a full bomb-load in the bomb-bay you were a sitting duck. It was difficult to fly straight to aim you bombs as the aircraft was buffetted about by exploding flak shells. German Night-fighters were always a threat and positioned themselves just outside the searchlight belt and close to the edge of the bomber stream.)
15th November 1941
12.00hrs took off in Wellington Z1281 flown by Sgt Cooney & Sgt Carrel. Posted Air Gunner, Normal Flight Test landed at RAF Waltham, Flying time 30 minutes.
17th November 1941
12.30hrs took off in Wellington Z1281 flown by Sgt Cooney & Sgt Carrel. Posted Air Gunner, Normal Flight Test, Flying time 30 minutes
18th November 1941
11.05hrs took off in Wellington Z1281 flown by Sgt Cooney & Sgt Carrel. Posted Air Gunner, Normal Flight Test, Flying time 50 minutes
20th November 1941
10.55hrs took off in Wellington Z1281 flown by Sgt Cooney & Sgt Carrel. Posted Air Gunner, Normal Flight Test, Flying time 45 minutes
23rd November 1941
15.10hrs took off in Wellington Z1281 flown by Sgt Cooney & Sgt Carrel. Posted Air Gunner, Air to Sea Firing, Flying time1 hour 10 minutes
27th November 1941
10.55hrs took off in Wellington Z1281 flown by Sgt Cooney & Sgt Carrel. Posted Air Gunner, Normal Flight Test, Flying time 45 minutes
30th November 1941 - Night Bombing Operation Hamburg (4 of 48)
18.05hrs took off in Wellington Z1315 flown by Sgt Cooney & Sgt Carrel. Posted Air Gunner, This was Cyril’s 4th bombing mission.
Flew to Hamburg (Northern Germany) and bombed target.
This was the second time Cyril had flown and Bombed the German port town of Hamburg. Flying time 6 hours 55 minutes
(Hamburg is Germany’s major Navel and Commercial port. It has a large industrial area and was continually targeted throughout the war by the RAF & USAAF. The bombing of Hamburg was given the codename Operation Gomorrah)
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