|
Cyril Moore
2nd posting to No.142 Squadron RAF Binbrook,
Lincolnshire
31st October 1941 to 30th November 1941
 Cyril’s returned to No. 142 Squadron at RAF Binbrook on 2nd June 1942. The Squadron were still flying Wellington Bombers.
He would be involved on more bombing missions over France,
Denmark and Germany. On the bombing run the pilot had to keep the aircraft straight and level, while the bomb aimer took over procedure. When he pressed the bomb release lever, it set off a camera that automatically took five shots. This was two before the aiming point, the aiming point itself and two after. It was to stop bombs being released early. On that film would be shown the heading and other technical information. There was a tremendous amount of flak around some of the targets. Sometimes crew would see the shapes of aircraft below them. They were anxious to get the bombs away and fly out of the danger zone. When the bombs left the aircraft the loss of weight would make the plane go upwards, as if someone was pulling the aircraft up with a string. When the bomb doors closed the bomb aimer would shine a torch down the bomb bay to see if there were any ‘hang-ups’. The aircraft’s speed would be increased enormously for the return trip because of the decrease in weight from the bombs and nearly half empty petrol tanks.
Night fighters were waiting for the returning bombers, but the crew were more confident, because of this added speed. They were alert, charged up by the fact that they had survived the most dangerous part of the operation. They wanted to get home safely. The radar screen was watched for fighters. As soon as a blip come up the gunners were immediately informed and they would pick it up. Evasive action would be taken and normally worked. The Gunners wouldn’t fire until the enemy fighter was very close, because the hot tracer bullets from their guns would give the bomber’s position away in the night sky. The German night fighters wouldn’t attack from the front. It would be too dangerous for them. So they would come from behind, the quarters and the beams. They tried to steal up on the bombers by coming up behind or up underneath firing upwards. The night fighter, if he knew he had been spotted, would tend to go off for some easier prey.
When a bomber crew arrived back at base having completed a night time operation over enemy territory they didn’t just get out of the plane and go to bed. The pilot would taxi the plane around to the dispersal area, known as the ‘frying pan’, switch off and get out. There would be a truck there to take the crew back for a debriefing. When the arrived at the briefing room, everybody would be talking at once — mostly nonsense! The Crew felt ‘high’, as if they had taking drugs. They felt elated that they had survived. Normally a female WAAF officer would hand out a mug of tea, laced with rum. All these chaps coming in would have a black ring over their noses. It was caused by their oxygen masks, where the rubber had melted a bit, with perspiration and body heat.
The crew would be called to a table. There would be a couple of intelligence officers, who would do the de-brief. They would want to know: how much fuel we’d used; what night-fighters and flak had been encountered.; had any aircraft been seen to go down. The navigator provide the latitude, longitude, and the time when these aircraft were shot down. They then asked about the target, whether the flares had gone down on time and so on. Most of what they wanted was just factual stuff. Then the bomber crew would get rid of there flying gear, go back to the mess, have some eggs and bacon. Then finally go to bed. Bomber crews normally did not go one operations two nights in succession. The aircraft would have to be worked on all the day meaning it would not be ready for operational use that night. Crews would often be on bombing raids the day after, but invariably it would be a two or three daybreak.
CYRIL'S OPERATIONAL FLYING LOG - No. 142 Squadron RAF Binbrook
JUNE 1942
2nd June 1942 – Night Bombing Operation Essen (12 of 48)
23.58hrs took off in Wellington GZ1480 flown by Pilot Officer Brooks. Posted Rear Gunner. This was Cyril’s 12th bombing mission,
Ops to Essen Target Bombed Flying time 5 hours
(Essen is an town in the industrial Rhine Rhur area of central Germany. This was the second raid carried out by the 'Thousand Bomber Force' although the full 1,000 aircraft could not be provided on this night. 956 aircraft were dispatched: 545 Wellingtons, 127 Halifaxes, 77 Stirlings, 74 Lancasters, 71 Hampdens, 33 Manchesters and 29 Whitleys. The plan was similar to the recent raid on Cologne except that many more flares were dropped by the raid leaders, Wellingtons of 3 Group. Crews experienced great difficulty in finding the target; the ground was covered either by haze or a layer of low cloud. Bombing was very scattered. Essen reports only 11 houses destroyed and 184 damaged, mostly in the south of the city, and one prisoner of war working camp burnt out. Casualties were 15 people killed and 91 injured. Bombs also fell on at least 11 other towns in or near the Ruhr. Particularly heavy bombing occurred in Oberhausen with 83 people killed, Duisburg with 52 killed, and Mülheim with 15 killed. 31 bombers were lost: 15 Wellingtons, 8 Halifaxes, 4 Lancasters, 1 Hampden, 1 Manchester, 1 Stirling, 1 Whitley)
7th June 1942
11.00hrs took off in Wellington PZ1419 flown by Sgt Vandersteen. Posted Rear Gunner, To X as ordered, Flying time 1 hour 15 minutes
TOP SECRET****DIEPPE RAID**** TOP SECRET****DIEPPE RAID****
TOP SECRET****DIEPPE RAID**** TOP SECRET
(The above entry “To X as ordered” is a bit strange. It turns out that Cyril was involved in a top secret operation. No.142 Squadron had been detached to Thruxton in Wiltshire, where part of their duties involved the dropping of paratroopers. This was in preparation for the raid on Dieppe.
It had originally been planned to capture the two large navel Gun emplacements
on the headlands that surround the port of Dieppe by dropping airbourne troops.
They needed to be put out of action early so the raiding fleet of ships would
not suffer heavy fire when daylight came. Plans changed and the Wellingtons returned to bomber operations without taking part.
It was judged that the difficulties of mounting two separate parachute drops on
two different headlands at the same time and the vagaries of the weather were
too high. The discussion was made to land commandos by sea instead. The Dieppe Raid, also known as the Battle of Dieppe or Operation Jubilee went ahead on 19th August 1942. It was a disaster. No major objectives of the raid were accomplished. 3,623 of the 6,086 men who made it ashore were either killed, wounded, or captured. The lessons learnt were used in
planning D-Day. The commandos succeeded in its task of knocking only one
of the two gun emplacements. On D-day thousands of Paratroops were used.)
8th June 1942
09.40hrs took off in Wellington PZ1419 flown by Sgt Vandersteen. Posted Rear Gunner, DCO (Did Complete Operation) Ex I, Flying time 40 minutes
8th June 1942
14.15hrs took off in Wellington PZ1419 flown by Sgt Vandersteen. Posted Rear Gunner, DCO (Did Complete Operation) Ex 2, Flying time 45 minutes
9th June 1942
10.15hrs took off in Wellington PZ1419 flown by Sgt Vandersteen. Posted Rear Gunner, DCO (Did Complete Operation) Ex 3, Flying time 1 hour
9th June 1942
15.30hrs took off in Wellington PZ1419 flown by Sgt Vandersteen. Posted Rear Gunner, DCO (Did Complete Operation) Ex 4, Flying time 1 hour 15 minutes
10th June 1942
11.00hrs took off in Wellington PZ1419 flown by Sgt Vandersteen. Posted Rear Gunner, DCO (Did Complete Operation) Ex 5, Flying time 1 hour
10th June 1942
15.30hrs took off in Wellington PZ1419 flown by Sgt Vandersteen. Posted Rear Gunner, DCO (Did Complete Operation) Ex 6, Flying time 1 hour
10th June 1942
22.30hrs took off in Wellington PZ1419 flown by Sgt Vandersteen. Posted Rear Gunner, DCO (Did Complete Operation) Ex 7, Flying time 1 hour
12th June 1942
18.10hrs took off in Wellington PZ1419 flown by Sgt Vandersteen. Posted Rear Gunner, DNCO (Did Not Complete Operation) Bad conditions Ex8, Flying time 50 minutes
14th June 1942
16.35hrs took off in Wellington PZ1419 flown by Sgt Vandersteen. Posted Rear Gunner, DCO (Did Complete Operation) Ex 9, Flying time 1 hour 55 minutes
16th June 1942
10.25hrs took off in Wellington PZ1419 flown by Sgt Vandersteen. Posted Rear Gunner, DCO (Did Complete Operation), Flying time 1 hour 10 minutes
17th June 1942
03.30hrs took off in Wellington PZ1419 flown by Sgt Vandersteen. Posted Rear Gunner, DCO (Did Complete Operation), Flying time 1 hour 30 minutes
19th June 1942
15.30hrs took off in Wellington PZ1419 flown by Sgt Vandersteen. Posted Rear Gunner, DCO (Did Complete Operation) NFT, Flying time 30 minutes
25th June 1942
16.15hrs took off in Wellington PZ1419 flown by Sgt Vandersteen. Posted Rear Gunner, Formation Flying, Flying time 1 hour 30 minutes
26th June 1942
10.35hrs took off in Wellington PZ1419 flown by Sgt Vandersteen. Posted Rear Gunner, DCO (Did Complete Operation), Flying time 1 hour 15 minutes
26th June 1942
16.30hrs took off in Wellington PZ1419 flown by Sgt Vandersteen. Posted Rear Gunner, DCO (Did Complete Operation), Flying time 1 hour 40 minutes
29th June 1942
11.00hrs took off in Wellington PZ1419 flown by Sgt Vandersteen. Posted Rear Gunner, Local Flying, Flying time 1 hour
30th June 1942
10.45hrs took off in Wellington PZ1419 flown by Sgt Vandersteen. Posted Rear Gunner, NFT & Local, Flying time 1 hour 05 minutes
JULY 1942
1st July 1942
10.40hrs took off in Wellington P1419 flown by Sgt Vandersteen. Posted Rear Gunner, NFT, Flying time 30 minutes
3rd July 1942
10.15hrs took off in Wellington PZ1419 flown by Sgt Vandersteen. Posted Rear Gunner, NFT, Flying time 45 minutes
8th July 1942
10.00hrs took off in Wellington PZ1419 flown by Sgt Vandersteen. Posted Rear Gunner, BASE, Flying time 1 hour 35 minutes
15th July 1942
16.00hrs took off in Wellington X1459 flown by Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, NFT, Flying time 1 hour 35 minutes
16th July 1942
14.15hrs took off in Wellington X1459 flown by Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, Bombing Exercise, Flying time 1 hour
21st July 1942
16.15hrs took off in Wellington Y1221 flown by Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, NFT, Flying time 20 minutes
21st July 1942 – Night Bombing Operation Duisburg (13 of 48)
23.48hrs took off in Wellington Y1221 flown by Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, This was Cyril’s 13th bombing mission.
Ops to Duisburg, Flying time 5 hours 15 minutes
(Duisburg is one of the cities that form the industrial Rhine Rhur area of central Germany. 291 aircraft were used in this bombing raid - 170 Wellingtons, 39 Halifaxes, 36 Stirlings, 29 Lancasters, 17 Hampdens. 12 aircraft did not come back including 10 Wellingtons, 1 Halifax, 1 Hampden bomber. 253 returning crews reported that they had bombed and started many fires but photographs showed that the flares of the leading aircraft, dropped by using the navigation system called Gee, were not accurate and part of the bombing fell in open country over the Rhine to the west. This large raid was possibly sent on a moonless night to avoid the German night fighters. It is interesting to note that bombing results were better than on many moonlit raids but the bomber casualties, at 4.1 per cent, were heavier than normal. Returning crews reported that Duisburg's Flak and searchlight defences were not as fierce as in recent raids to that target because of the haze and most of the bomber losses were suffered in the coastal fighter belt. Duisburg reports much damage in housing areas, 94 buildings being destroyed and 256 seriously damaged, with 49 people killed. What Bomber Command documents describe as 'ground sources' later stated that the Thyssen steelworks and 2 other important war industries were hit.)
26th July 1942 – Night Bombing Operation Hamburg (14 of 48)
23.10hrs took off in Wellington V1219 flown by Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, This was Cyril’s 14th bombing mission.
Ops to Hamburg, Flying time 6 hours 15 minutes
(Cyril was again sent on a bombing mission to the Northern German port of Hamburg. 403 aircraft were used on this raid including Wellingtons, Lancasters, Halifaxes, Stirlings, and Hampdens. 29 Aircraft were lost - 15 Wellingtons, 8 Halifaxes, 2 Hampdens, 2 Lancasters, 2 Stirlings . The crews encountered a mixture of cloud and icing at some places on the route but clear weather at the target. Good bombing results were claimed. Hamburg reports show that severe and widespread damage was caused, mostly in housing and semi-commercial districts rather than in the docks and industrial areas. At least 800 fires were dealt with, 523 being classed as large. 823 houses were destroyed and more than 5,000 damaged. More than 14,000 people were bombed out. 337 people were killed and 1,027 injured.)
27th July 1942
11.30hrs took off in Wellington Y1221 flown by Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, NFT, Flying time 30 minutes
28th July 1942
15.30hrs took off in Wellington Y1221 flown by Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, NFT, Flying time 30 minutes
29th July 1942 – Night Bombing Operation Saarbrucken (15 of 48)
23.10hrs took off in Wellington V1219 flown by Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, This was Cyril’s 15th bombing mission.
Ops to Saarbrucken, Flying time 7 hours.
(Saarbrücken is a heavy industrial town in central Germany. 291 aircraft were used. The following bombers did not return - 3 Wellingtons, 2 Halifaxes, 2 Lancasters, 2 Stirlings. The defences at the target were not expected to be strong and crews were urged to bomb at lower than normal altitudes. 248 aircraft reported accurate bombing, three quarters of them doing so from below 10,000 ft. Bomber Command claimed severe damage to 2 industrial targets, an ironworks and an engineering works. Saarbrücken's records show severe damage and casualties in the centre and north-western districts. 396 buildings were destroyed and 324 seriously damaged, with 155 people being killed.)
AUGUST 1942
3rd August 1942
16.45hrs took off in Wellington O flown by Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, NFT, Flying time 30 minutes
4th August 1942
16.10hrs took off in Wellington N flown by Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, NFT, Flying time 30 minutes
4th August 1942– Night Mining Operation St NazReare (16 of 48)
23.00hrs took off in Wellington N flown by Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, This was Cyril’s 16th bombing mission. Mining St NazReare, (St Nazaire)
Flying time 6 hours 5 minutes
(45 Aircraft were involved in minelaying operations that night in the Frisians islands near Holland and off Brest, Lorient and St NazReare in France.Two Wellington bombers were lost. Saint-Nazaire, is a major harbour, on the right bank of the Loire River estuary, near the Atlantic Ocean.)
6th August 1942
15.45hrs took off in Wellington F flown by Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, NFT, Flying time 30 minutes
6th August 1942– Night Bombing Operation Duisburg (17 of 48)
23.00hrs took off in Wellington F flown by Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, This was Cyril’s 17th bombing mission.
Ops to Duisburg, Flying time 4 hours 30 minutes
(Duisburg is one of the industrial cities in the Rhine Rhur area of Central Germany. 216 Aircraft were sent on this raid but 5 failed to return - 2 Halifaxes, 2 Stirlings, 1 Wellington. Most of the bombs fell in open country west of the target. Duisburg reports 18 buildings destroyed, 66 seriously damaged and 24 people killed.)
16th August 1942
Took off in Wellington Z flown by Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, NFT, Flying time 30 minutes
16th August 1942– Night Mining Operation Elbe Bay (18 of 48)
00.20hrs took off in Wellington Z flown by Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, This was Cyril’s 18th bombing mission.
Mining Elbe Bay, Flying time 5 hours 10 minutes.
(The river Elbe is a major German shipping route used to take goods to and from the North Sea and the industrial towns of central Germany. It passes through Hamburg, before flowing into the North Sea near the Dutch border. 56 Aircraft were used on this mining operation. 2 Lancaster bombers were lost.)
18th August 1942
14.00hrs took off in Wellington Z flown by Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, NFT, Flying time 15 minutes
18th August 1942 – Night Bombing Operation Flensburg (19 of 48)
20.35hrs took off in Wellington Z flown by Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, This was Cyril’s 19th bombing mission.
Ops to Flensburg, Flying time 5 hours 45 minutes
(Flensburg, on an inlet of the Baltic, was in theory an easy target for the Pathfinders on their first operation but the winds encountered were not as forecast and the bomber force drifted north of the target to a part of Denmark whose coast also had many inlets. 16 Pathfinder crews claimed to have marked the target area and 78 Main Force crews also claimed to have bombed in the correct place. Flensburg reports that the town was not hit at all but a Danish report shows that the towns of Sĝnderborg and Abenra and a large area of Denmark up to 25 miles north of Flensburg were hit by scattered bombing. 26 houses were destroyed and 660 were damaged but only 4 Danish people were injured. 118 Aircraft, including 31 Pathfinders were used on this mission. 4 Aircraft - 2 Wellingtons, 1 Halifax, 1 Stirling bomber failed to return.
The Pathfinders were experienced aircrew who flew in low over the target and dropped flares to illuminate and mark the area to be bombed by the main bomber force. Navigational equipment in R.A.F. bombers in those days consisted roughly of a compass, a sextant, an astro compass and a few other minor instruments. The standard of navigation was elementary in the extreme and produced poor results. A new device known as Gee had been introduced. This was very hush-hush at the time. It consisted of a pulse phasing radar system with receiving equipment in the aircraft, displaying signals on a cathode ray tube monitor which could be aligned and measured. The resultant figures gave the position on a hyperbolic grid with reasonable accuracy. It had been hoped that this system would give sufficient accuracy in navigation to make blind bombing of the Ruhr practical. Unfortunately this was not quite so, but its value as a navigational aid was tremendous. In particular its use in coming back directly to home aerodromes was a tremendous help. Gee was the first radar device used on bombers, and was most valuable. The hope for Pathfinders, however, lay in two other devices. The first of these was an airborne radar ground reflection system known as H2S. The second was subsequently given the code name Oboe.)
21st August 1942
10.30hrs took off in Wellington Z flown by Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, BASE – Finningley - BASE, Flying time 15 minutes
22nd August 1942
14.00hrs took off in Wellington Z flown by Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, NFT, Flying time 30 minutes
23rd August 1942
16.00hrs took off in Wellington Z flown by Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, George Test, Flying time 30 minutes
24th August 1942
14.00hrs took off in Wellington Z flown by Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, NFT, Flying time 30 minutes
24th August 1942– Night Bombing Operation Frankfurt (20 of 48)
20.35hrs took off in Wellington Z flown by Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, This was Cyril’s 20th bombing mission.
Ops to Frankfurt – Bit of Action, Flying time 6 hours 10 minutes
(This was the second Pathfinder-led raid and the Pathfinder crews again experienced great difficulty in locating the target in cloudy conditions; most of the bombing fell in open country north and west of Frankfurt. Local reports say that some bombs fell in the city, with 17 large and 53 small fires and with moderate property damage. 5 people were killed, including 2 Flak gunners, and 95 people were injured. The outlying villages of Schwalbach and Eschborn were heavily bombed. 226 Aircraft were used - 104 Wellingtons, 61 Lancasters, 53 Stirlings, 8 Halifaxes. Out of this number 16 bombers failed to return - 6 Lancasters, 5 Wellingtons, 4 Stirlings, 1 Halifax . 5 Pathfinder Aircraft, including that of the commanding officer of 7 Squadron, were among the Aircraft lost.)
26th August 1942
14.00hrs took off in Wellington P flown by Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, NFT, Flying time 30 minutes
27th August 1942
14.00hrs took off in Wellington Z flown by Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, NFT, Flying time 30 minutes
27th August 1942– Night Bombing Operation Kassel (21 of 48)
20.55hrs took off in Wellington Z flown by Wing Commander Simmons &Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, This was Cyril’s 21st bombing mission.
Ops to Kassel, Flying time 5 hours 25 minutes
(There was only a little cloud over Kassel and the Pathfinders were able to illuminate the area well. Widespread damage was caused, particularly in the south-western parts of the city. Kassel reports that 144 buildings were destroyed and 317 seriously damaged. Several military establishments were hit and the number of dead soldiers, 28, exceeded the number of civilians killed, 15. 187 civilians and 64 soldiers were injured. Among the buildings severely damaged were all three of the factories of the Henschel Aircraft company. 306 Aircraft were used on this mission. 31 bombers failed to return including - 21 Wellingtons, 5 Stirlings, 3 Lancasters, 1 Halifax, 1 Hampden. 142 Squadron, based at Grimsby, lost 5 of its 15 Wellingtons taking part in the raid. Many of the casualties were attributed to night-fighter action.)
31st August 1942
15.00hrs took off in Wellington Z flown by Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, NFT, Flying time 30 minutes
SEPTEMBER 1942
1st September 1942
11.30hrs took off in Wellington Z flown by Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, NFT, Flying time 30 minutes
1st September 1942 – Night Bombing Operation Saarbrucken (22 of 48)
23.50hrs took off in Wellington Z flown by Wing Commander Simmons & Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, This was Cyril’s 22nd bombing mission.
Ops to Saarbrucken, Flying time 6 hours
(The Pathfinders illuminated and marked a town which they believed to be Saarbrücken and the Main Force bombed accurately. A total of 205 Aircraft claimed good bombing results. But the town bombed was Saarlouis, 13 miles to the north-west and situated in a similar bend of the River Saar. The small, non-industrial town of Saarlouis and the villages immediately surrounding were heavily damaged. The exact extent of this damage was not recorded but 52 civilians were killed. No bombs fell in Saarbrücken. 231 bombers were used on this mission. 4 aircraft failed to return to the UK - 1 Halifax, 1 Lancaster, 1 Stirling, 1 Wellington)
4th September 1942
10.30hrs took off in Wellington Z flown by Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, Base - Honington, Flying time 35 minutes
5th September 1942
11.15hrs took off in Wellington Z flown by Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, Honington – Base, Flying time 30 minutes
6th September 1942
15.15hrs took off in Wellington Z flown by Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, Base – Binbrook - Base, Flying time 45 minutes
7th September 1942 – Night Bombing Operation St NazReare (23 of 48)
20.06hrs took off in Wellington Z flown by & Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, This was Cyril’s 23rd bombing mission.
Ops to St NazReare, Flying time 6 hours 10 minutes
(43 Aircraft were involved in minelaying operations off French Biscay ports and in the Frisians. 1 Wellington minelayer was lost.)
16th September 1942
11.10hrs took off in Wellington R flown by Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, NFT, Flying time 20 minutes
16th September 1942 – Night Bombing Operation Essen (24 of 48)
20.30hrs took off in Wellington R flown by & Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, This was Cyril’s 24th bombing mission.
Ops to Essen, Flying time 5 hours 25 minutes
(Essen is an industrial city in the Rhine Rhur area of central Germany. Although much of the bombing was scattered, this was probably the most successful attack on this difficult target. There were 33 large and 80 'medium' fires. 8 industrial and 6 transport premises were hit. The Krupps works were hit by 15 high-explosive bombs and by a crashing bomber loaded with incendiaries. There was much housing damage. In Essen and its immediate surroundings, 48 people were killed and 92 injured. Many other towns were hit, in particular Bochum with 50 fires and 4 people dead, Wuppertal with 13 dead, Heme with a large fire in a lorry garage and Cochem, a small town on the Moselle 90 miles south of Essen, which received 1 bomb load destroying 4 houses and killing 15 people. 369 Aircraft, including Aircraft from the training groups were used in this raid. 39 Aircraft - 21 Wellingtons, 9 Lancasters, 5 Stirlings, 3 Halifaxes, 1 Whitley were lost,)
18th September 1942
17.00hrs took off in Wellington Z flown by Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, NFT, Flying time 30 minutes
21st September 1942
11.40hrs took off in Wellington Z flown by Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, NFT, Flying time 30 minutes
23rd September 1942
11.00hrs took off in Wellington Z flown by Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, Rear to Sea Firing, Flying time 45 minutes
23rd September 1942– Night Mining Operation off Denmark (25 of 48)
23.00hrs took off in Wellington Z1484 flown by Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, This was Cyril’s 25th bombing mission. Ops Mining off Denmark, Flying time 5 hours 35 minutes
(25 Wellingtons and 8 Stirlings were used in this minelaying operation at many places between the French bay of Biscay up to Denmark. 2 Wellingtons were lost.)
26th September 1942
11.20hrs took off in Wellington T flown by Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, NFT, Flying time 30 minutes
26th September 1942– Night Mining Operation off Ameland (26 of 48)
23.00hrs took off in Wellington Z1484 flown by Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, This was Cyril’s 26th bombing mission.
Ops Mining off Ameland, Flying time 5 hours 35 minutes
(Amerland is part of the Fresian Islands near Holland. This is an account from one of the other planes involved on that same operation - Mines were dropped from 200ft,and at such a low height we received a lot of attention from ground fire. Tracer was hosed around us, but we were not hit. That was our "baptism of fire".But we had yet to encounter night fighters. They were always a problem. The worst encounter that we had was with a FW 190 that attacked us from astern. .He was very determined, but I had seen him before he was within range and warned the skipper. At the critical moment as he came in I told the skipper to corkscrew, this entailed the aircraft diving a few hundred feet to port or starboard and then climbing again on the opposite tack in a corkscrewing motion, this could be quite a violent manoeuvre, but effective in shaking off a fighter. A few minutes later the fighter found us again, and came in from port, and I told the skipper to turn hard to port, and as the 190 broke away the mid upper gun and I gave it a short burst. He again came at us, this time from starboard and we repeated our evasive action and as he broke away he gave us a burst but did no damage. And we did not see him again. 52 Wellingtons and 19 Stirlings were involved on that nights minelaying operation. 1 Wellington was lost.)
29th September 1942
11.230hrs took off in Wellington Z flown by Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, Base Bramcote, Flying time 40 minutes
OCTOBER 1942
8th October 1942
13.30hrs took off in Wellington Q flown by Pilot Officer Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, NFT, Flying time 30 minutes
8th October 1942 – Night Mining Operation St NazReare (27 of 48)
18.38hrs took off in Wellington Z flown by & Flight Sgt Bent. Posted Rear Gunner, This was Cyril’s 27th bombing mission.
Mining St NazReare, Flying time 6 hours 35 minutes
(57 Aircraft were involved in minelaying at Lorient, St NazReare, Brest, Ostend, Texel and the Frisians islands. 2 Wellington bombers were lost.)
|
