The 61 Sqdn left from Syerston at 1943-08-23 at 21:11. Loc or duty Leverkusen
On Monday 23 August 1943, a member of the 61 Sqdn, Sergeant S J Banting, took off from Syerston 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 21:11.
He flew with a Avro Lancaster (type III, serial DV228, code QR-).
Campaign report of the USAAF:
No report
Campaign report of the RAF:
22/23 August 1943
Leverkusen: 462 aircraft - 257 Lancasters, 192 Halifaxes, 13 Mosquitos.
The IG Farben factory was chosen as the aiming point for this raid and it was hoped that some of the bombs would hit this important place. There was thick cloud over the target area and there was a partial failure of the Oboe signals. Bombs fell over a wide area; at least 12 other towns in and near the Ruhr recorded bomb damage. 3 Lancasters and 2 Halifaxes lost, 1.1 per cent of the force.
12 Mosquitos to the Ruhr and 6 to Hamburg, 47 aircraft minelaying in the Frisians and off Texel, 7 OTU sorties. No losses.
23/24 August 1943
727 aircraft - 335 Lancasters, 251 Halifaxes, 124 Stirlings, 17 Mosquitos - despatched to Berlin. The Mosquitos were used to mark various points on the route to Berlin in order to help keep the Main Force on the correct track. A Master Bomber was used; he was Wing Commander JE Fauquier, the Commanding Officer of 405 (Canadian) Squadron.
The raid was only partially successful. The Pathfinders were not able to identify the centre of Berlin by H2S and marked an area in the southern outskirts of the city. The Main Force arrived late and many aircraft cut a corner and approached from the south-west instead of using the planned south-south-east approach; this resulted in more bombs falling in open country than would otherwise have been the case. The German defences - both flak and night fighters - were extremely fierce. 56 aircraft - 23 Halifaxes, 17 Lancasters, 16 Stirlings - were lost, 7.9 per cent of the heavy bomber force. This was Bomber Command's greatest loss of aircraft in one night so far in the war.
40 Wellingtons minelaying in the Frisians and off Lorient and St Nazaire, 22 OTU sorties. No losses.
With thanks to the RAF and USAAF.net!
This record can also be found on the maps of Back to Normandy with Google coordinates. You can find the maps by clicking on this link on this location.
There are several possibilities to investigate the flight records on Back to Normandy. All the flights are plotted on maps, sorted "day by day", "by squadron", "by type aircraft", "by year or month", "by location" and much more! Don't miss this!!!
If you have any information that you want to share, please add your comment at the bottom of this record. Or send your information to [email protected]. This information will be added to the record.
Your photos and your information are very welcome! The young do care and with your help we keep up the good work.