The 51 Sqdn left from Snaith at 1944-03-25 at 18:43. Loc or duty Berlin
On Saturday 25 March 1944, a member of the 51 Sqdn, Flight Lieutenant R Curtis, took off from Snaith in the United Kingdom. His mission is mentioned elsewhere on Back to Normandy. You can find the other details of this mission by searching here. Training and cargo flights are not separately mentioned as a mission. The plane left at 18:43.
Craig Galloway about his uncle (Alan Sidebotham)
He flew with a Handley Page Halifax (type III, serial MZ507, code MH-P2).
For 35 years my Uncle Alan (Sidebotham) didnt really know what happened. He thought it was a mid air collision and he fell out with his parachute. He had no memory of exiting the plane. He used to wear his "catapillar club" tie with pride - to be a member you have to have had you're life saved by a parachute. In 1992 BBC Bristol did a program called "Splendid Hearts" (believe that was the title) that took him to the road through what was East Germany that was the only overland route to Berlin. They stopped close to the crash site. After that program a German researcher rang nearly every A Sidebotham in the phone book (pre internet) until he found my uncle. The German researcher filled him on the detail. I was told that one of the German airman bailed outof the ME110 as the pilot deliberately flew into the Halifax - hence why the story came to light. I can't verify that there was one survivor of the ME110 but that is what i was told.
My uncle said the locals saw he was a young lad and took him for a drink before the German army took him away in the back of a truck with the rest of the crew including the deceased. One other of the Halifax aircrew survived for year before dying as a POW.
For 6 months Alan's family didnt know if he was a alive or dead. His name was announced at the end of a "lord haw haw" propaganda radio broadcast from Germany that Alan's mum's neighbours heard who then told his family. My father told me it was commonplace for people to listen to the German propaganda just to find out about loved ones as that was always the final bit of the broadcast.
His war came to an end when a USA jeep turned up at his POW camp (the German soldiers had melted away) and said you're free and the allied lines are 20 miles away.
He went back to work in the electricity industry, married, one child and lived until he was about 80. He lived and loved life to the full. Frequently he would make the pilgramage to Runnymede to remember his friends. To me, he was fun and entertaining - a decent bloke.
My father wanted to follow Alan into the RAF into Bomber Command but Alan persauded him not to as the attrition rates were too high. Just as well as I would probably not exist today. My dad ended up in the Royal Navy for the last year of the war serving on a variery of ships (HMS Victorious, Tiger, Eurylas) as a radar operator with the rank of CPO though he never saw a shot fired in anger. He said he did see 1 plane take off from HMS Victorious but never saw any land. The plane flew to shore by the way. He ended up in Australia on one trip where he visited the RAAF chap's family. I can't recall whether it was the RAAF flyer on the doomed Halifax or the previous captain who I believe was also Australian. My dad said they treated him like a king.
Alan'story has always fascinated me. I keep planning to go to Elvington in Yorkshire where you can go inside an old halifax (for a fee) to get a feel for what those airmen went through. One day.
Campaign report of the USAAF:
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS
(Eighth Air Force): 406th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), VIII Air Force Composite Command (attached to 328th Service Group), moves from Watton to Harrington, England with B-24s; the squadron began flying CARPETBAGGER missions in Jan 44.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS
(Ninth Air Force): 140+ B-26s attack the Hirson, France marshalling yard.
Campaign report of the RAF:
24/25 March 1944
811 aircraft - 577 Lancasters, 216 Halifaxes, 18 Mosquitos - to Berlin. 72 aircraft - 44 Lancasters, 28 Halifaxes - lost, 8.9 per cent of the force.
This night became known in Bomber Command as 'the night of the strong winds'. A powerful wind from the north carried the bombers south at every stage of the flight. Not only was this wind not forecast accurately but it was so strong that the various methods available to warn crews of wind changes during the flight failed to detect the full strength of it. The bomber stream became very scattered, particularly on the homeward flight and radar-predicted flak batteries at many places were able to score successes. Part of the bomber force even strayed over the Ruhr defences on the return flight. It is believed that approximately 50 of the 72 aircraft lost were destroyed by flak; most of the remainder were victims of night fighters. Needless to say, the strong winds severely affected the marking with, unusually, markers being carried beyond the target and well out to the south-west of the city.
This was the last major RAF raid on Berlin during the war, although the city would be bombed many times by small forces of Mosquitos.
147 aircraft from training units carried out a diversionary sweep west of Paris; 27 Mosquitos bombed night-fighter airfields and 15 Mosquitos bombed Duisburg, Kiel and Münster; aircraft of No 100 Group flew 4 RCM sorties and 10 Serrate patrols. 1 Serrate Mosquito lost.
9 aircraft dropped supplies to the Resistance without loss.
Total effort for the night: 1,023 sorties, 73 aircraft (7.1 per cent) lost.
25/26 March 1944
192 aircraft - 92 Halifaxes, 47 Lancasters, 37 Stirlings, 16 Mosquitos - attacked railway yards at Aulnoye in France. No aircraft lost.
22 Lancasters of No 5 Group to an aero-engine factory at Lyons, 10 Mosquitos to Berlin and 2 to Hamm, 7 Serrate patrols, 14 Stirlings minelaying in Brittany to the Frisians, 5 OTU sorties. No losses.
With thanks to the RAF and USAAF.net!
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