He flew with a Avro Lancaster (type III, serial ED307, code SR-X).
24 Venturas bombed railway targets at Abbeville and Caen but most of the bombs missed their targets. No Venturas lost.
208 Lancasters and 3 Halifaxes bombed the dock area of La Spezia and caused heavy damage. 4 Lancasters were lost and 3 more, either damaged or in mechanical difficulty, flew on to land at Allied airfields in North Africa. It is believed that this was the first occasion that the recently captured North African airfields were used for Bomber Command aircraft in distress. The 3 Lancasters flew back to England later.
6 Mosquitos of No 105 Squadron, carried out nuisance raids to Bremen, Hamburg and Wilhelmshaven, 2 aircraft being sent to each target. These were the first non-Oboe Mosquito night raids and were the forerunners of Light Night Striking Force operations; the Germans hated the nuisance and harassing effect of the Mosquito raids and could rarely shoot down any of these fast, high-flying aircraft. The Mosquito was later modified to carry a 4,000lb bomb as far as Berlin - a favourite Mosquito target - and, in winter, individual Mosquitos were sometimes able to make 2 flights to Berlin under the cover of darkness in the same night, changing crews after the first landing.
10 Lancasters minelaying off Germany, 18 OTU sorties. 1 OTU Wellington was lost in the sea.
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