DUISBURG
455 aircraft - 173 Wellingtons, 157 Lancasters, 114 Halifaxes, 9 Mosquitoes, 2 Stirlings. 6 aircraft - 3 Wellingtons, 1 Halifax, 1 Lancaster, 1 Mosquito - lost, 1.3 percent of the force. The Mosquito lost was the first Oboe Mosquito casualty. A message was received from the pilot, Flight Lieutenant L. J. Ackland, that he was having to ditch in the North Sea. His body was never found but his navigator, Warrant Officer F. S. Sprouts, is believed to have survived.
This raid was one of the few failures of this series of attacks on Ruhr targets. It was a cloudy night and, for once, accurate Oboe sky-marking was lacking because 5 Oboe Mosquitoes were forced to return early with technical difficulties and a sixth was lost. The result was a widely scattered raid. The only details reported from Duisburg were 15 houses destroyed and 70 damaged, with 11 people killed and 36 injured.
5 O.T.U. aircraft carried leaflets to France without loss.
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-Duisberg raid. Page 370, line 6:
Warrant Officer F. S. Sprouts should read Warrant Officer F. S. Strouts.
