MINOR OPERATIONS
30 Mosquitoes to Mannheim, 66 O.T.U. Wellingtons on a diversionary sweep, 19 R.C.M. sorties, 26 Mosquito patrols, 7 aircraft on Resistance operations. 2 Mosquitoes from the Mannheim raid and 1 Intruder Mosquito lost.
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FLYING-BOMB SITES
150 aircraft - 77 Halifaxes, 48 Lancasters, 25 Mosquitoes - carried out small 'Oboe leader' raids on 12 sites. Most of the targets were satisfactorily hit. This was the last of the long series of raids on the German flying-bomb launching and storage sites in the Pas de Calais area, which was captured by Allied ground troops a few days later.
There was 1 aircraft casualty. A 550 Squadron Lancaster, which had just bombed the Wemars/Cappel launching site near Amiens, received a direct hit from a Flak battery near Dunkirk. The Lancaster went down in flames and exploded. The pilot, Pilot Officer S. C. Beeson, and 3 other members of the crew escaped by parachute, but the wireless operator and the 2 gunners were killed. Sergeants J. K. Norgate, H. S. Picton and J. A. Trayhorn were thus the last fatal casualties in Bomber Command's campaign against the V-1 flying bomb.
Minor Operations: 30 aircraft of 6 and 8 Groups bombed a German battery on the ële de Cezembre, near St-Malo, and 23 Halifaxes of 6 Group bombed ships in Brest harbour. No aircraft lost.
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MINOR OPERATIONS
35 Mosquitoes to Essen, 4 to Leverkusen, 3 each to Le Culot and Venlo and 2 to Cologne, 13 Mosquito patrols, 6 Halifaxes minelaying off La Pallice, 19 aircraft on Resistance operations. 1 Halifax lost flying on a Resistance operation.
