August 1940 Bomber Routeing to/from France

Thanks Nitram and Moggy

Unless I find the details for the location of the “LY” Beacon for that particular night in a document at the PRO or a 1940 Observer (a real one!) with a fantastic memory, then I don’t think I have much chance. I am informed that they were regularly changed.

Once overhead the beacon flashing letters “L” & “Y”, you would track away from the beacon East 090 degrees from Magnetic North for 5 miles.

Regarding, the route according to the Ops Order which was an amended one they were to fly out over “ANVIL POINT” and down to “ILE de RE”, then track to Ambes the target, (near Bordeaux).

On return they were detailed to go to Harwell and basically no return route appears to be given on the Ops Order.

A teleprinted document at the PRO in the 77 Sqn Appendix records, sent at 16.10hrs on the day says “Aircraft must be routed Out and Home so as to cross English coast East repeat East of Selsea Bill” For the outward journey this does conflict with the Ops Order. However for the homeward journey it does agree with the statement made by the MOD from the Accident File, that “the land fall which the crew should have been making for was between Selsey Bill and Beachy Head.”

Thanks for your replies

Observer

Re: Lyneham

Originally posted by Nitram
PS

Harwell is roughly due East (magnetic) of Lyneham

Martin

Hmm,

I hate to ruin a perfectly good theory but Lyneham is actually 26 nautical miles, or 30 statute miles East of Harwell

A direct routeing from Anvil Point to Harwell takes you not really very much closer at any point along its length.

Moggy

Lyneham

PS

Harwell is roughly due East (magnetic) of Lyneham

Martin

LY

The pundit was a red Chance light, usually mounted on some sort of vehicle or trailer, that flashed in morse, two morse letters. Initially these were changed daily, but toward the end of the war the letters were fixed to those of the parent airfield.

Therefore what I was trying to suggest was that either they were to take a bearing from whatever beacon was flashing LY on the night in question or that they were going to LYs beacon (which they would identify by that night’s pundit code) and take a bearing from there.

Thanks Martin

A Marine Navigator from the Royal Institute of Navigation tells me the same, which is interesting. On my 1:50 000 O.S. Map, it shows a place called ANVIL POINT about 1 mile S.W. of Durlston Head, south of Swanage.
A S/Ldr has said that they were still using this place called ANVIL POINT after the war, as a point to route RAF aircraft across the South coast.

Again many have said LY was a ‘Pundit’ beacon, but its likely that the letters it flashed in Morse code, may have been changed frequently and therefore, will be fairly impossible to determine where it is.
At the PRO there is a file on “Flashing Lighthouses” with a list of places apparently airfields, with their beacon lettering codes.
I don’t think the letters flashed by the beacon, corresponded with the Airfield Identification code lettering.

Any more ideas?

Observer

Bomber Routing

There’s an Anvil Point on the coast near Swanage in Dorset, which would probably fit the bill.

Is LY a pundit code of an airfield Lyneham???

Martin