COLOGNE
493 aircraft - 331 Lancasters, 144 Halifaxes, 18 Mosquitoes - of 1, 3, 4 and 8 Groups. 15 further Mosquitoes carried out a feint attack just before the main raid. 2 Lancasters lost.
This was another Oboe-marked attack through thick cloud. Most of the bombing fell in the southern districts, with Bayental and Zollstock, according to the local report, being the hardest hit, although damage was not as severe as in other recent raids. Firm details are now harder to obtain. The recording system in Cologne was becoming less reliable, mainly because so many people had now left the city. The only item of outstanding interest mentioned is the blowing up of an ammunition train in the Klettenberg district. 98 Germans were killed; the foreign casualties were not recorded though it is known that a number were killed at the Eifeltor Station.
Minor Operations: 49 Mosquitoes to Hamburg, 4 to Saarbrcken and 2 to Schweinfurt, 36 R.C.M. sorties, 59 Mosquito patrols. No aircraft lost.
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HOMBERG
226 Lancasters and 2 Mosquitoes of 5 Group, with 14 Mosquitoes of 8 Group, attempted to attack the Meerbeck oil plant. The marking was scattered and only 159 of the Lancaster crews attempted to bomb. 1 Lancaster lost.
Minor Operations: 2 R.C.M. sorties, 1 Hudson on a Resistance operation.
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OBERHAUSEN
288 aircraft - 202 Halifaxes, 74 Lancasters, 12 Mosquitoes - of 6 and 8 Groups. 3 Halifaxes and 1 Lancaster lost.
The target area was cloud-covered and the bombing was not concentrated. 36 houses were destroyed in Oberhausen and 4 people were killed but other places in the Ruhr may have been hit as well.
Minor Operations: 49 Mosquitoes to Berlin, 12 to Cologne and 4 each to Karlsruhe and Mlheim, 28 R.C.M. sorties, 46 Mosquito patrols, 25 aircraft on Resistance operations. No aircraft lost.
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and flew Lancasters from Fiskerton (briefly) and Hemswell until the end of the war.
OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE
Raids Flown
Battles - 16 bombing
Wellingtons - 175 bombing, 25 minelaying
Lancasters - 73 bombing
Total - 264 bombing, 25 minelaying = 289 raids
Sorties and Losses
Battles - 50 sorties, no losses
Wellingtons - 1,667 sorties, 50 aircraft lost (3.0 percent)
Lancasters - 840 sorties, 6 aircraft lost (0.7 percent)
Total - 2,557 sorties, 56 aircraft lost (2.2 percent)
2 Lancasters were destroyed in crashes.
153 SQUADRON
SERVICE
After three years' duty as a night-fighter squadron, disbanded in Algeria in September 1944. Re-formed as a Lancaster squadron in 1 Group on
