He flew with a Avro Lancaster (type X, serial KB784, code NA-K).
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS
(Eighth Air Force):: 3 missions are flown.
Mission 948: 1,167 bombers are dispatched without escort to visually attack enemy pockets on the French Gironde estuary; 2 B-24s are lost; other Allied AFs and French naval units attack similar targets; the air attacks precede a ground assault by a French detachment of the Sixth Army Group on the defense pockets which deny the Allies use of port facilities in the Bordeaux area:
1. 480 of 490 B-17s hit 15 strongpoints and flak batteries in the Bordeaux/ Royan, Pointe Coubre and Pointe Grave areas; 1 B-17 is damaged beyond repair and 1 damaged; 1 airman is WIA.
2. 315 of 336 B-24s hit 12 strongpoints and flak batteries in the same area as Force 1; 2 B-24s are lost, 3 damaged beyond repair and 1 damaged; 18 airmen are KIA, 8 WIA and 12 MIA.
3. 338 of 341 B-17s attack 4 strongpoints and flak batteries in the Bordeaux/Royan area without loss.
4. 31 P-47s and P-51s fly scouting missions.
5. 9 of 11 P-51s escort 8 F-5s on photo reconnaissance missions over Royan and Germany.
Mission 949: 10 of 11 B-24s drop leaflets in Germany, the Netherlands and France during the night.
Mission 950: An experimental bombing operation is flown by a Mosquito and B-24s against Neuruppin Airfield, Germany; the mission is unsuccessful.
1 of 4 B-24s completes a CARPETBAGGER mission to Denmark during the night.
HQ 352d Fighter Group and the 486th and 487th Fighter Squadrons move from Chievres, Belgium to Bodney, England with P-51s.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS
(Ninth Air Force): In Germany, 18 B-26s fly a leaflet mission in the Ruhr area; fighters fly patrols, sweeps, and armed reconnaissance, and support the US 3d Armored Division SW of the Elbe/Mulde River junction near Dessau, the 9th Armored Division in the Borna and Lobstadt area, XX Corps elements which continue to arrive at the Zwickauer Mulde River, the VIII Corps along the Weisse Elster River S of Gera, XII Corps elements in the Bayreuth area, the 2d and 5th Armored Divisions along the Elbe River in the Barby-Magdeburg and Tangermunde areas.
Units moving in Germany: HQ XXIX Tactical Air Command (Provisional) to Gutersloh; HQ 84th and HQ 303d Fighter Wings from Haltern to Gutersloh; HQ 100th Fighter Wing from Metz, France to Konigstein; 167th Liaison Squadron, Ninth AF (attached to Sixth Army Group) from Kaiserslautern to Pfaffengrund with L-5s; the 377th and 378th Fighter Squadrons, 362d Fighter Group from Rouvres, France to Frankfurt with P-47s; the 389th and 390th Fighter Squadrons, 366th Fighter Group, from Asch, Belgium to Handorf Airfield, Munster with P-47s.
377 Lancasters and 105 Halifaxes of Nos 3, 6 and 8 Groups to Kiel. 2 Lancasters lost. This raid was directed against the port area, with the U-boat yards as the main objective. Bomber Command rated this as 'a poor attack' with scattered bombing.
20 Halifaxes and 8 Mosquitos in a diversionary raid on Boizenburg, 87 Mosquitos to Hamburg, 20 to Stralsund and 12 to Reisa, 62 RCM sorties, 55 Mosquito patrols, 82 Lancasters and 27 Halifaxes minelaying in Kiel Bay and the Kattegat. 1 Mosquito of No 100 Group lost.
Total effort for the night: 855 sorties, 3 aircraft (0.4 per cent) lost.
20 Lancasters of 6 17 Squadron again found their target at Swinemünde covered by cloud and returned without bombing. No aircraft lost.
500 Lancasters and 12 Mosquitos of Nos 1, 3 and 8 Groups attacked Potsdam. This was the first time that Bomber Command 4-engined aircraft had entered the Berlin defence zone since March 1944 but the approach, across parts of Germany recently captured by Allied troops, and the Cuxhaven diversion led to only 1 Lancaster being lost; it was shot down by a night fighter.
This was the last raid of the war by a major Bomber Command force on a German city. The aiming point was the centre of Potsdam and the intention was to destroy the local barracks (depot of the old German Guards regiments) and the railway facilities. The attack was reasonably successful and severe damage was caused in Potsdam but bombs also fell in the nearby northern and eastern districts of Berlin.
24 Lancasters and 4 Mosquitos in a diversion raid to Cuxhaven, 62 Mosquitos to Berlin and 10 to Wismar, 54 RCM sorties, 50 Mosquito patrols. No aircraft lost.
Total effort for the night: 716 sorties, 1 aircraft (0.1 per cent) lost.
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