550 Squadron – D-Day Ops Question – Gingerbread…

There doesn’t appear to be any mention in The Bomber Command War Diaries: An Operational Reference Book, 1939-45 by Martin Middlebrook of a mission/sortie or operation on or around D-Day with the name “Blacktie” and he lists pretty much every raid and it’s date etc..

I’m probably way off the mark but could it just be a reference to the “Invasion Stripes” or “D-Day Stripes” which have the look of a black tie on a white shirt ?

http://fly.historicwings.com/2013/03/invasion-stripes/

Hi Mindovermatter,
Thanks for the information. Incidentally, I have a log book and route plot/chart for a 101 Squadron Nav involved in Overlord countermeasure activity.

His log book entry for 5/6/44 states: ‘D Day Jamming Patrol. Invasion cover patrol. Nothing Seen. Very boring!’
The Navigator is Barnfather, the Pilot Davidson and the plane LM462.
Rgds, David

No problem David. The log book and route plot/chart sound interesting. I am lucky to have the logs and maps for my father’s 1st tour of duty with 101 which covers the Battle of Berlin and the Nuremberg raid.

I have the entries from the Air Ministry operations record books (ORBs) for all 101 squadron aircraft involved on the 5/6/44 and LM462 was listed as :-

Duty : Special Duties Patrol
Up : 22.35
Down : 05.50
Details of Sortie : Patrol from 23.57 to 04.04 hours, height 20,000′ to 24,000′, 150 to 157 mph.

22 aircraft were sent from 101 and 6 had to abandon their mission for various technical or crew issues. Many reported a quiet or uneventful trip but LL779 reported :-

Combat – one attack by unidentified E/A. M/U and R/G scored hits on enemy aircraft. No damage received.

As Greg points out the “Taxable” aircraft covered the ghost fleet that appeared to be heading for Cap d’Antifer, and “Glimmer” simulated an invasion force heading towards Boulogne. The “Mandrel” aircraft were tasked with jamming the German early warning radar.

The “Special Duties Patrol” was ordered to lay a curtain of VHF jamming between the direction enemy fighters were expected from and the area of the actual assault. 101’s aircraft were joined by 5 Flying Fortresses from 214 Squadron and between them they had to give the appearance of a full bomber steam heading along the River Somme using a combination of thousands of bundles of “Window” and over 80 ABC transmitters.

The official report on the operation says that all available night fighters were directed against the ABC aircraft that had been mistaken for the spearhead of a main bomber group heading for an area near Paris. The fighter control became so confused that many of the fighters returned to their control points awaiting clearer instructions and only sporadic fighter activity was reported between 01.05 and 03.55 in the vicinity of the ABC aircraft.

So successful was this confusion caused by the ABC aircraft that the Airborne Forces met no opposition in the air and landed with very few casualties. Remarkable in that the armada of gliders and heavily laden troop transports having lumbered their way across the Channel at dawn were expected to have at least a 25% casualty rate on reaching Normandy.

The Glimmer and Taxable operations in the map MindOverMatter posted involved dropping Window to simulate the radar returns of ships.

The aircraft used Gee and G-H system to fly in rows towards the shore, and incrementally drop the window slightly closer to simulate the forward speed of ships.

BigDave2, I’d love to look through the nav logs and plots if you’d be happy sharing as I’m very interested in the navigation aids developed and used by Bomber Command.

I haven’t come across “Blacktie” but it may be possible to work it out from the date/location etc.

cheers,
Greg

Thank you. I’ll the Squadron Association as suggested.

Hi Mindovermatter,
Thanks for the information. Incidentally, I have a log book and route plot/chart for a 101 Squadron Nav involved in Overlord countermeasure activity.

His log book entry for 5/6/44 states: ‘D Day Jamming Patrol. Invastion cover patrol. Nothing Seen. Very boring!’
The Navigator is Barnfather, the Pilot Davidson and the plane LM462.
Rgds, David

It might be worthwhile asking the question on this site http://www.550squadronassociation.org.uk/ 🙂

I have a map showing how the ABC jammers fitted into the Radio Countermeasures plan for Overlord, my interest being the 101 Squadron Lancasters that were fitted with them. The map also shows the squadrons involved in the various Titanic operations from which 29 bombers simulated a fake airborne invasion in the Caean and Cap d’Antifer (Paris) areas. I can’t see 550 Squadron mentioned though in the Cap d’Antifer (Paris) area, only 138, 161 and 149.

However a 550 Squadron Lancaster (LL811 J-Jig ‘Bad Penny III’) was supposed to be the first aircraft to drop its payload to mark the start of the assault on the Normandy beaches. The crew of the Lancaster were to be later awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French for its role in Operation ‘Overlord’. Perhaps 550 Squadron had it’s mission changed at the last minute or did a combination of bombing and “Gingerbread” drops.

The gingerbread men were made of jute cloth similar to that used for sandbags. They were approximately 80 cms high in the shape of a man. The legs and arms were closed with string, and they were filled with sand for weight. The back pack containing the canopy was made with four overlapping triangular sections which closed by means of a cord passed through brass eyelets. The canopy had a diameter of approximately 130 cms. They were dropped during the “Titanic” operations on D-Day with around 200 dropped to create a diversion.

550 Squadron had three “Ton Up” Lancasters which achieved more than 100 sorties in wartime operations. EE139 “B-Baker” (The Phantom of the Ruhr), ED9O5 “F-Fox”, and PA995 “V-Victor” (ex-“K-King”, The Vulture Strikes). W5005 “N-Nan” nearly reached the 100 but had to ditch in the Humber estuary on returning from its 94th sortie.