4 Group Bomber Command by Chris Ward

Author:Chris Ward
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781783035311
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2013-05-22T04:00:00+00:00

May

May would see the departure from Pocklington of the Merlin Halifaxes, and no further operational losses would be sustained in the type although non-operational accidents accounted for two. JD304 was written off when a burst tyre caused the undercarriage to collapse at Marston Moor at the end of a ferry flight on the 2nd, and LW138 crash-landed with engine failure while training on the 6th. Happily, neither incident resulted in casualties among the crews of F/O Dodds and F/O Rank respectively. May began for the Group in general with an attack on railway yards and locomotive sheds at Mechelen in Belgium on the 1/2nd. Unfortunately, collateral damage to the town caused many casualties among the civilian population. Meanwhile on that night, eight 102 Squadron crews were sent mining at four locations off the French coast, and twelve similar sorties were carried out off Brest, Lorient and St Nazaire on the 4/5th, to be followed by six more to the same ports twenty-four hours later. During this period the Command had continued operations against railway targets, specific factories, airfields, ammunition dumps and a military camp. On the 7/8th, 6 Group mounted a small-scale raid on a coastal battery, a type of target destined to attract huge attention as the day of invasion drew ever nearer. In order to maintain the enemy belief that the invasion force would land in the Calais area, the closest point to England, elaborate deceptions were carried out. Among these was Bomber Command’s concentration on coastal defences in the Pas-de-Calais, and only at the eleventh hour would targets in the genuine invasion area be attacked.

A busy month took elements of the Group to a railway target at Mantes-la-Jolie on the 6/7th, coastal batteries in the Pas-de-Calais on the 8/9th and 9/10th, railways again on the 10/11th, 11/12th and 12/13th before minor operations allowed a brief respite. Seven mining sorties over the 9/10th and 10/11th were the last to be undertaken by 102 Squadron in the Merlin Halifaxes, and the first examples of the Mk III arrived on the 11th. 102 Squadron was completely re-equipped with the Mk III by the 15th, allowing five aircraft to participate in a mining operation in the Heligoland Bight that night. One brought its mines back after problems with its H2s equipment, but the others all completed their assignments before returning safely. Earlier in the day 77 Squadron completed its final change of address with a move to Full Sutton. It left behind at Elvington its complement of Mk V Halifaxes, which became the property on the 16th of the newly-formed 346 Squadron, the first of two units to join 4 Group which were manned by members of Free French forces who had mostly served previously in North Africa. Lt Col Venot was installed as the first commanding officer, and he set about the task of bringing his charges up to operational status. A mining operation in the Kattegat was completed by 102 Squadron’s participants without loss on the 21/22nd, the night on which 500 Lancasters returned to Duisburg for the first time in a year.

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