32 Lancasters and Stirlings were recalled from a raid to Stettin and jettisoned their bombs in the North Sea. 10 aircraft were sent minelaying in the River Gironde and off Texel, Gdynia and Danzig. The more distant locations were not reached. No aircraft lost.
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TURIN
228 aircraft - 117 Lancasters, 47 Stirlings, 45 Halifaxes, 19 Wellingtons. 2 Stirlings and 1 Wellington lost.
Part of the force bombed before the Pathfinders were ready but the remainder carried out very accurate bombing, some of it around the Royal Arsenal. Wing Commander G. P. Gibson and Flight Lieutenant W. N. Whamond of 106 Squadron dropped the first 8,000-lb bombs on Italy. Turin recorded 67 people killed and 83 injured.
During the raid on Turin, a Stirling of 149 Squadron came down to 2,000 ft in order to establish the exact position of its target. The Australian captain of the crew, Flight Sergeant R. H. Middleton, made 3 runs across the city and his aircraft was hit by light anti-aircraft fire, a shell exploding in the cockpit. The 2 pilots and the wireless operator were all seriously wounded. Flight Sergeant Middleton became unconscious temporarily, but the co-pilot, Flight Sergeant L. A. Hyder, managed to keep control and the bombs were released. The Stirling was hit again over Turin and also over France on the return flight.
The coast of England was reached but the captain decided there was little chance of landing safely, mainly because of a shortage of petrol but also because of the damaged state of the aircraft and the injuries of the 2 pilots. Flight Sergeant Middleton himself had been badly wounded in the head, was very weak and could hardly see or speak. He turned parallel with the coast and ordered his crew to bale out, 5 men did so and survived but Middleton and 2 other men were still in the plane when it crashed into the sea.
Flight Sergeant Middleton was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross; he was the second Australian in Bomber Command to win the V.C. The co-pilot was awarded the D.F.M. and 4 other members of the crew were decorated. Middleton's body was washed up on the Kent coast and was buried at Beck Row, Mildenhall, near his home airfield of Lakenheath.
Minor Operations: 19 aircraft minelaying off Biscay ports, 5 O.T.U. sorties. No losses.
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Carried out the fifth highest number of bombing raids in Bomber Command heavy squadrons.
Carried out most minelaying operations in Bomber Command.
Flew the most Stirling sorties in Bomber Command.
Suffered the lowest percentage loss rate among those Bomber Command squadrons which operated continuously from 1940 until the end of the war.
150 SQUADRON
SERVICE
Returned from the Advanced Air Striking Force in France in June 1940 and posted to 1 Group. Flew Battles and Wellingtons from Newton, Snaith and Kirmington until posted to the Middle East in December 1942. Disbanded in Algeria in September 1944 and re-formed, again in 1 Group, on
