He flew with a Avro Lancaster (type X, serial KB776, code VR-F).
22 October 1944
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS
(Eighth Air Force): HQ 492d Bombardment Group (Heavy) and the 856th, 857th, 858th and 859th Bombardment Squadrons (Heavy), i.e., the CARPETBAGGER group assigned to HQ VIII Fighter Command, is transferred to the 1st Bombardment Division to operate as a night bombing group; only the 856th Squadron remains on CARPETBAGGER operations over the Netherlands, Norway and Denmark under operational control of HQ Eighth AF; this reduction of supply dropping forces results from the recapture of major portions of France.
The 859th Squadron is sent to Italy in Dec 44 and did not return; the 857th and 858th started night bombing sorties on a limited scale in Dec 44.
Mission 685: 1,131 bombers and 785 fighters are dispatched on PFF attacks on targets in W Germany; 2 bombers and 1 fighter are lost:
1. 379 B-17s are dispatched to hit military vehicle plants at Hannover/ Hanomag (171) and Brunswick/Bussing (148); targets of opportunity are Bielefeld (35) and other (6); 2 B-17s are lost, 2 damaged beyond repair and 15 damaged; 20 airmen are KIA, 3 WIA and 16 MIA.
Escort is provided by 379 P-47s and P-51s; 1 P-51 is lost (pilot MIA) and 1 damaged beyond repair.
2. 353 of 373 B-24s hit the Hamm marshalling yard; 29 B-24s are damaged.
Escort is provided by 196 of 212 P-51s; 1 P-51 is damaged beyond repair.
3. 352 of 379 B-17s hit the Munster marshalling yard; 8 others hit targets of opportunity; 13 B-17s are damaged.
Escort is provided by 147 of 157 P-51s.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS
(Ninth Air Force): Advance HQ XXIX Tactical Air Command (Provisional) and HQ 84th and 303d Fighter Wings move from Arlon, Belgium to Maastricht, the Netherlands to maintain close association with the US Ninth Army.
Weather forbids bomber operations; fighter sweeps and armed reconnaissance support US Third and Seventh Army elements in E France and W Germany.
In Belgium, HQ 373d Fighter Group moves from Reims, France to Le Culot.
23 October 1944
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS
(Eighth Air Force): Mission 686: 6 B-24s and 3 B-17s drop leaflets in France and the Netherlands during the night.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS
(Ninth Air Force): Weather prevents all commands, including the 9th Bombardment Division, from flight operations. In Belgium, HQ 36th Fighter Group moves from Juvincourt, France to Le Culot. In France, HQ 71st Fighter Wing moves from Versailles to Vittel.
45 Mosquitos to Hamburg, 4 to Wiesbaden, 3 to Düsseldorf and 2 to Cologne, 6 Serrate patrols, 20 Lancasters and 19 Halifaxes minelaying in the Kattegat, 6 Stirlings on Resistance operations. No aircraft lost.
112 Lancasters of No 5 Group attacked the Flushing battery positions but visibility was poor and the bombing was scattered. 4 Lancasters lost.
4 RCM sorties, 6 Ranger patrols. No losses.
1,055 aircraft - 561 Lancasters, 463 Halifaxes, 31 Mosquitos - to Essen. This was the heaviest raid on this target so far in the war and the number of aircraft dispatched was also the greatest number to any target so far; these new records were achieved without the Lancasters of No 5 Group being included. 5 Lancasters and 3 Halifaxes were lost. 4,538 tons of bombs were dropped. More than 90 per cent of this tonnage was high explosive (and included 509 4,000-pounders) because it was now considered that most of the burnable buildings in Essen had been destroyed in earlier raids. The greater proportion of high explosive, against all the trends in earlier area-bombing raids, was now quite common in attacks on targets which had suffered major fire damage in 1943.
38 Mosquitos to Berlin, 10 to Wiesbaden and 2 to Aschaffenburg, 41 RCM sorties, 50 Mosquito patrols, 1 Hudson on a Resistance operation. No aircraft lost.
Total effort for the night: 1,197 sorties, 8 aircraft (0.7 per cent) lost.
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