The 161 Sqdn left from Tempsford at 1944-11-27 at 20:48. Loc or duty SOE

On Monday 27 November 1944, a member of the 161 Sqdn, Flight Lieutenant G H Ash, took off from Tempsford 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 20:48.

He flew with a Lockheed Hudson A-28 / A-29 / AT-18 (type III, serial T9463, code MA-L).

Campaign report of the USAAF:

STRATEGIC OPERATIONS

(Eighth Air Force): Mission 727: 530 bombers and 770 fighters are dispatched to make PFF attacks on marshalling yards in Germany and fighter-bomber strikes on 4 oil centers in N and C Germany; they claim 102-4-12 aircraft; 15 fighters are lost:

1. 148 of 190 B-17s hit the Bingen marshalling yard; 2 others hit targets of opportunity; 46 bombers are damaged; 2 airmen are WIA.

Escorting are 91 of 95 P-51s; 1 P-51 is lost (pilot MIA).

2. 181 of 186 B-17s hit the Offenburg marshalling yard; 1 hits Freiburg; 14 B-17s are damaged; 1 airman is WIA.

Escorting are 105 of 107 P-51s; 2 P-51s are lost (pilot MIA) and 1 damaged beyond repair.

3. 144 of 154 B-24s hit the Offenburg marshalling yard; 7 others hit targets of opportunity; 9 B-24s are damaged.

Escorting are 45 of 48 P-51s without loss.

4. 460 P-47s and P-51s fly fighter-bomber missions against oil targets in N and C Germany; about 750 Luftwaffe fighters, the largest sighting to date, attack in the Magdeburg-Munster-Hannover areas when the Germans mistake the fighters for a heavy bomber formation; the AAF claims 98-4-11 aircraft in the air and 4-0-1 on the ground; 2 P-47s and 10 P-51s are lost (pilots MIA).

TACTICAL OPERATIONS

(Ninth Air Force): Weather forbids bomber missions; fighters patrol over W Germany, dive-bomb a bridge at Rurdorf, and support the US 104th, 8th, and 1st Infantry Divisions near Hurtgen and in the Weisweiler-Franz area, and the XIX Corps (mainly the 2d Armored Division) at Merzenhausen.

Campaign report of the RAF:

26/27 November 1944

Munich: 270 Lancasters and 8 Mosquitos of No 5 Group. 1 Lancaster crashed in France. Bomber Command claimed this as an accurate raid in good visibility with much fresh damage, particularly to railway targets. It has not been possible to obtain a local report.

7 Mosquitos to Erfurt and 6 to Karlsruhe (a 'spoof' raid), 20 RCM sorties, 20 Mosquito patrols, 31 aircraft on Resistance operations. 1 Intruder Mosquito was lost and 1 Hudson on a Resistance flight crashed behind Allied lines in Belgium.

27 November 1944

169 Lancasters of No 3 Group carried out a G-H raid on the Kalk Nord railway yards at Cologne. Good results were observed. 1 Lancaster lost.

27/28 November 1944

341 Lancasters and 10 Mosquitos of Nos 1 and 8 Groups despatched to Freiburg. 1 Lancaster lost. Freiburg was not an industrial town and had not been bombed before by the RAF It was attacked on this night because it was a minor railway centre and because many German troops were believed to be present in the town; American and French units were advancing in the Vosges, only 35 miles to the west. The marking of the medium-sized town was based on Oboe directed from caravans situated in France. Flak defences were light and 1,900 tons of bombs were dropped on Freiburg in 25 minutes. Photographs showed that the railway targets were not hit but that the main town area was severely damaged.

290 aircraft - 173 Halifaxes, 102 Lancasters, 15 Mosquitos - of Nos 1, 6 and 8 Groups to Neuss. 1 Mosquito lost. The central and eastern districts of Neuss were heavily bombed and many fires were started.

67 Mosquitos to Berlin, 7 each to Hallendorf and Ludwigshafen and 5 to Nuremberg, 35 RCM sorties, 61 Mosquito patrols, 18 Halifaxes and 12 Lancasters minelaying off Danish and Norwegian coasts. No aircraft lost.

Total effort for the night: 853 sorties, 2 aircraft (0.2 per cent) lost.

With thanks to the RAF and USAAF.net!

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