February 9th – An 'On this day'

…And I’ve just found “They Shall Grow Not Old” has a list of the five Beaufighters involved with their crews…

Fighter Command Losses says one Mustang, HB836, of 65 Squadron was lost. If you look up the pilot, W/O C Caesar in the CWGC database it gives the cemetery he is buried in.

The first page of the cemetery report is here:

http://www.cwgc.org/search/cemetery_reports.aspx?cemetery=2016225&mode=1

You’ll see there are five casualties of that date on that page. There are only 41 burials there so it won’t take long to look through the other pages.

In a database of the Runnymede names I have three names recorded from 404 Sqn for that date, A M Duckworth, W J Jackson, and H Smook. They are all RCAF.

Hope that helps,

Jim

Watching the gun camera footage from those Coastal Command shipping strikes never fails to get my adrenalin pumping:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BouPNl3AnU&feature=related

And here’s a couple that are directly relevant to Black Friday:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z95I3O74MAk&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXeIXAHDLF0&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

Black Friday – 9 Feb 1945

Hi Moggy

I had considered editing the piece myself – however, like you, we have to tie down the actual losses and this is going to be very difficult if we cannot even establish the actual number of our aircraft taking part – even the Luftwaffe losses are suspect and the number of Kriegsmarine ships is also in question!!

^(I) The number of German ships accompanying Z33 in Førde Fjord at the time of the Allied attack differs between sources. Ashworth (1992), p. 122 gives a figure of one minesweeper and two flak ships, Alexander (2009), p. 181 refers to her having “minesweeper and flak-ship escorts”, Brereton (1994), p. 472 gives a figure of two M-class minesweepers, a sperrbrecher and “at least two other flak ships”, Conyers Nesbit (1995), p. 224 states that she was protected by two M-class minesweepers, a sperrbrecher and “several flak ships”, Goulter (1995), p. 254 gives a defensive strength of two M-class minesweepers and a sperrbrecher while Milson (2010), p. 51 writes that the destroyer was protected by “nine anti-aircraft escorts and armed tugs”.

^(II) The number of Allied aircraft involved in the attack also differs between sources. Conyers Nesbit (1995), p. 221, Milson (2010), p. 51 and Parry (2002), p. 47 state that the force comprised 32 Beaufighters and 10 Mustangs. Alexander (2009), p. 181 and Greenhous (1994), p. 472 give a figure of 32 Beaufighters and 12 Mustangs. Goulter (1995), p. 254 states that the force was made up of 31 Beaufighters and 12 Mustangs.

^(III) Goulter (1995), p. 254 and Milson (2010), p. 54 state that four Fw 190s were shot down while Conyers Nesbit (1995), p. 228 and Greenhous (1994), p. 473 state that five Fw 190s were downed. Greenhous wrote that his figure is sourced from German records.

This excellent article on http://www.luftwaffe.no/SIG/1945/Forde.html states that one Mustang, out of twelve, had problems, and turned back with another as escort leaving 10 to go on.

However, basically, we are none the wiser with the casualties as it states “1 Mustang and 9 Beaufighters were shot down, no less than 6 of the Beaus from the hard-hit 404(RCAF) Sqduadron. This squadron lost 11 men killed on a this day, with another one taken prisoner. Altogether 14 young lifes were lost on the allied side, and at this stage of the war with the end clearly in sight, it must have seemed a heavy price to pay.”

It would seem that a trawl through the article might come up with the actual numbers killed and POW’s.

Allan

Allan, I’m happy to edit the Wiki entry if we can tie down here the actual losses and a good reference to evidence the change.

Moggy

Reads like part of the inspiration for ‘633 Squadron’

Black Friday – 9 Feb 1945

Hi Moggy

Thanks for the posting – one of the lesser known incidents as 2TAF was probably hogging the headlines at the time.

According to the wikipedia article it states for our losses

9 Beaufighters
1 P-51 Mustang
14 aircrew KIA
4 POW

but with 9 Beaufighters with two crew members and 1 Mustang with 1 pilot that equates to 19 losses not 18, pity they were not more accurate in an otherwise excellent article.

Allan