He flew with a Avro Lancaster (type X, serial KB779, code VR-B).
(Ninth Air Force): All missions except a few fighter patrols are cancelled because of bad weather.
In Belgium, the 107th and 109th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadrons, 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Group, based at Gosselies begin operating from Chievres with F-6s.
Leuna: 475 Lancasters and 12 Mosquitos of Nos 1, 3 and 8 Groups. 5 Lancasters lost. This was the first major attack on an oil target in Eastern Germany; Leuna, near the town of Merseburg, just west of Leipzig, was 250 miles from the German frontier and 500 miles from the bombers' bases in England. There was considerable cloud in the target area but post-raid photographs showed that considerable damage had been caused to the synthetic-oil plant.
Osnabrück: 453 aircraft - 363 Halifaxes, 72 Lancasters, 18 Mosquitos - of Nos 1, 4, 6 and 8 Groups. 7 Halifaxes and 1 Lancaster lost. This was the first major raid on Osnabrück since August 1942. The raid was only a partial success. The railway yards were only slightly damaged but 4 factories were hit, including the Teuto-Metallwerke munitions factory, and 203 houses were destroyed.
Giessen: 255 Lancasters and 10 Mosquitos of No 5 Group. 8 Lancasters lost. There were two aiming points for this raid. 168 aircraft were allocated to the town centre and 87 to the railway yards. Severe damage was caused at both places.
42 Mosquitos to Berlin, 10 to Schwerte and 2 to Hanau, 37 RCM sorties, 47 Mosquito patrols. 2 Mosquitos lost - 1 from the Berlin raid and an Intruder aircraft which crashed in France.
Total effort for the night: 1,343 sorties, 23 aircraft (1.7 per cent) lost.
1 Hudson flew a Resistance operation.
53 Mosquitos to Cologne and 7 to Hanau, 3 RCM sorties. No losses.
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