The 640 Sqdn left from Leconfield at 1944-08-25 at 18:30. Loc or duty Watten
He flew with a Handley Page Halifax (type III, serial NA578, code C8-).
Campaign report of the USAAF:
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS
(Eighth Air Force): Four missions are flown.
Mission 570: 1,191 bombers and 708 fighters make visual bombing attacks against aircraft component plants, Luftwaffe experimental stations and the synthetic oil industry; 18 bombers and 7 fighters are lost; numbers in parenthesis indicate number of bombers attacking the target:
1. 435 B-24s are dispatched to hit aircraft component plants at Rostock (116), Schwerin (106), Wismar (91) and Lubeck (81); 11 others hit Grossenbrode Airfield and 4 hit targets of opportunity; 5 B-24s are lost, 2 damaged beyond repair and 55 damaged; 5 airmen are WIA and 64 MIA.
Escort is provided by 243 P-47s and P-51s; they claim 11-2-3 aircraft; 1 P-51 is lost.
2. 380 B-17s are dispatched to the Rechlin Experimental Station (179) and oil refinery at Politz (169); 6 others hit targets of opportunity; 8 B-17s are lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 182 damaged; 10 airmen are WIA and 64 MIA.
Escort is provided by 215 P-47s and P-51s; they claim 4-0-2 aircraft on the ground; 4 P-51s are lost.
3. 376 B-17s are dispatched to the Peenemunde Experimental Station (146), Neubrandenburg Airfield (108) and Anklam Airfield (73); 21 others hit Parow Airfield and 5 hit targets of opportunity; 5 B-17s are lost and 75 damaged; 1 airman is KIA, 9 WIA and 45 MIA.
Escort is provided by 171 P-47s and P-51s; they claim 36-0-28 aircraft on the ground; 2 P-51s are lost.
Mission 571: 10 of 10 B-24s fly an Azon glide bomb mission to Moerdijke, the Netherlands but the target is missed.
Escort is provided by 36 of 36 P-47s without loss.
Mission 572: 107 bombers and 172 fighters are dispatched to make visual attacks on liquid oxygen and ammonia plants in Belgium and N France:
1. 31 of 38 B-17s hit Henin Littard without loss.
2. 69 B-24s are dispatched to hit Willerbroeck (18), Tertre (17), Tiller/ Liege (12) and La Louviere (10); 4 others hit St Trond Airfield and 1 hits a target of opportunity; 24 B-24s are damaged and 4 airmen are WIA.
Escort for Mission 572 is provided by 152 P-38s and P-51s without loss.
Mission 573: 6 of 6 B-17s drop leaflets on France and Belgium during the night.
1 C-47 flies a CARPETBAGGER mission during the night.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS
(Ninth Air Force): In France, about 240 A-20s and B-26s attack various enemy strongholds in and around Brest supporting the ground forces' attempt to capture Brest harbor; fighters provide air cover for 5 divisions, fly armed reconnaissance along the Seine River, and sweeps in wide areas around Paris which is liberated; fighters of the IX Tactical Air Command raid, and set afire with napalm tanks, the reported HQ of Field Marshall Walter Model (Commander-in-Chief West) and Verzy; HQ IX Air Defense Command moves from Ecrammeville to Rennes; HQ 394th Bombardment Group (Medium) moves from Holmsley, England to Tour-en-Bassin; the 14th Liaison Squadron, XIX Tactical Air Command (attached to Third Army), moves from Dampierre to Courcy with L-5s; the 34th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, 10th Photographic Group (Reconnaissance), moves from Rennes to Chateaudun with F-5s; the 153d Liaison Squadron, IX Tactical Air Command (attached to First Army), moves from Couterne to Maillebois with L-5s; and the 390th Fighter Squadron, 366th Fighter Group, moves from Pierre du Mont to Dreux with P-47s.
The 303d Troop Carrier Squadron, 442d Troop Carrier Group, that has been operating from Follonica, Italy with C-47s, returns to base at Weston Zoyland, England.
Campaign report of the RAF:
24/25 August 1944
6 Halifaxes minelaying off La Pallice without loss.
25 August 1944
161 aircraft - 140 Halifaxes, 16 Lancasters, 5 Mosquitos - attacked 5 launching or storage sites in the Pas de Calais with varying results. 2 Halifaxes and 1 Lancaster lost.
25/26 August 1944
412 Lancasters of Nos 1, 3, 6 and 8 Groups attacked the Opel motor factory at Rüsselsreim. 15 Lancasters were lost, 3.6 per cent of the force. The Pathfinder marking was accurate and the raid was successfully completed in 10 minutes. An official German report. says that the forge and the gearbox assembly departments were put out of action for several weeks, but 90 per cent of the machine tools in other departments escaped damage. The assembly line and part of the pressworks were able to recommence work 2 days later and lorry assembly was unaffected because of considerable stocks of ready-made parts.
190 Lancasters and 6 Mosquitos of No 5 Group to Darmstadt which had not been seriously attacked by Bomber Command before. 7 Lancasters lost. This 'No 5 Group method' raid was a failure. The Master Bomber had to return early; his 2 deputies were shot down; the flares were dropped too far west and the low-level Mosquito marker aircraft could not locate the target. 95 buildings were hit and 8 people were killed by the scattered bombs which did hit Darmstadt. 33 of the Lancasters bombed other targets, including at least 13 aircraft which joined in the successful raid on nearby Rüsselsheim.
334 aircraft - 284 Halifaxes, 32 Lancasters, 18 Mosquitos - of Nos 4, 6 and 8 Groups attacked 8 coastal battery positions near Brest. Most of the bombing was accurate. 1 Halifax and 1 Lancaster lost.
Support and 2 Mosquitos in preliminary reconnaissance of targets, 182 training aircraft on a diversionary sweep over the North Sea, 36 Mosquitos to Berlin and 22 to five other targets, 47 RCM sorties, 68 Mosquito patrols, 6 Halifaxes minelaying off La Pallice, 6 aircraft on Resistance operations. This was the first occasion on which No 100 Group dispatched more than 100 aircraft. 1 RCM Fortress lost.
Total effort for the night: 1,311 sorties, 25 aircraft (1.9 per cent) lost and 8 more aircraft crashed in England, including 3 OTU Wellingtons from the diversionary sweep. The total effort for this night was a new record for Bomber Command, exceeding by exactly 100 the number of aircraft dispatched on 5/6 June, the eve of D-Day.
With thanks to the RAF and USAAF.net!
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