The 429 Sqdn left from Leeming at 1945-02-26 at 16:58. Loc or duty Gardening
He flew with a Handley Page Halifax (type III, serial MZ452, code ZL-E).
Campaign report of the USAAF:
AIRBORNE OPERATIONS
(IX Troop Carrier Command): HQ 436th Troop Carrier Group and the 80th, 81st and 82d Troop Carrier Squadrons move from Membury, England to Melun, France with C-47s.
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS
(Eighth Air Force):: 2 missions are flown.
Mission 849: 1,207 bombers and 726 fighters are dispatched to make H2X radar attacks on three Berlin rail stations; they claim 6-0-0 Luftwaffe aircraft; 3 B-17s and 3 P-51s are lost:
1. 377 B-17s are sent to hit the Schlesischer rail station (363); 1 hits Osnabruck, a target of opportunity; 2 B-17s are lost and 21 damaged; 1 airman is WIA and 18 MIA.
214 of 244 P-51s escort claiming 4-0-0 aircraft in the air.
2. 446 B-17s set out to hit the Alexanderplatz rail station (418); 4 others hit a target of opportunity; 1 B-17s is lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 43 damaged; 8 airmen are KIA, 2 WIA and 9 MIA.
Escorting are 232 of 240 P-51s; they claim 2-0-0 aircraft on the ground; 3 P-51s are lost (2 pilots MIA).
3. 361 B-24s are dispatched to hit the North rail station (285); 37 hit Eberswalde, the secondary target; 4 hit a target of opportunity; 2 B-24s are damaged beyond repair and 26 damaged; 3 airmen are WIA and 3 MIA.
The escort is 20 P-47s and 190 P-51s.
4. 17 B-17s and 6 B-24s fly screening missions.
5. 31 of 32 P-51 fly a scouting mission.
Mission 850: During the night, 12 B-24s drop leaflets in the Netherlands and Germany; and 5 B-24s fly a CARPETBAGGER mission.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS
(Ninth Air Force): In Germany, 235 A-20s, A-26s, and B-26s attack the communications center at Wickrath, rail and road junctions at Zieverich and Gladbach, a supply and ammunition depot (casual target), the towns of Kapellen, Viersen, and Munstereifel, and targets of opportunity; weather limits fighter operations to armed reconnaissance flights in the Aschaffenburg-Wurzburg area by the XIX Tactical Air Command
Campaign report of the RAF:
25/26 February 1945
63 Mosquitos to Erfurt, 10 each to Berlin and Mainz and 6 to Bremen, 8 RCM sorties, 23 Mosquito patrols, 10 Halifaxes of No 6 Group minelaying in Oslo Fjord, 20 aircraft on Resistance operations. 1 Halifax minelayer lost.
26 February 1945
149 Lancasters of No 3 Group carried out a G-H attack on the Hoesch benzol-oil plant at Dortmund through cloud. No results were seen but the bombing appeared to be concentrated. No aircraft lost.
26/27 February 1945
38 Mosquitos each to Berlin and Nuremberg, 3 Mosquitos on 'siren tours' of Northern Germany, 1 RCM sortie, 6 Mosquito patrols, 18 aircraft on Resistance operations. 1 Stirling lost on a Resistance flight.
With thanks to the RAF and USAAF.net
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