I recently saw an awesome photo taken from a Lancaster of the whole Lancaster squadron in fairly close formation at about 100 feet off the deck flying over an Italian vilage on their way to bomb Milan (from their base in Britain, a heck of a long way!). It must have been about midday, but I guess they were under the radar and there fore were gone before fighters could get up.
This got me thinking. I used to always believed the common perception that the RAF did all its bombing raids at night, hence the black undersides to their aircraft. But I now realise that they obviously did raids in daytime, just like the USAAF.
I was wondering if anyone knows much about daylight raids by heavy Bomber Command aircraft (Lancs, Stirlings, Halifaxes or Wellingtons, etc). Did they raid in daylight often? I thought they switched to night bombing fairly early in the war and stuck with that. But now I wonder were many daylight raids carried out as a matter of course?
Were the RAF daylight raids escorted by fighters usually? I suppose an escort depends on where they’re going, but did they often go as deep into Europe as Milan?
Were there any particularly special daylight raids carried out by the RAF heavy sqns on Europe, ones that stood out in history? (ie like the Dams raid and Ploesti do).
Did RAF Bomber Command ever join forces with the USAAF on their big daylight raids?
Any stories or stats on RAF Bomber Command’s heavy bomber daylight operations would be really interesting, thanks.
By: allan125 - 12th September 2004 at 15:36
Bomber Command Daylight Raids
Hi Dave – take a look at this link about daylight raids -which mentions 150 Wing as escorts – and you should find it a very informative piece 🙂 – http://www.rafcommands.com/dcforum/DCForumID6/5341.html#8 –
Bomber Command did not form up like the 8th USAAF for its daylight raids –
You will note that it says “The fighter escorts frequently had considerable problems providing effective cover to a stream and Ramrod 1403 was fairly typical. 150 Wing (19, 65 and 122 Sqdns) provided the escort.”Rendezvous was made according to plan with the bombers at 20,000 feet and the Wing up to 26,000 feet with 65 Sqdn towards the front, 122 Sqdn in the centre and 19 Sqdn towards the rear. The bombers were spread out in a stream some 20 miles long and five or six miles wide with the last group of Lancasters tailing along several miles behind the main gaggle.” – I have now looked at my cousins logbook, and his total operational hours were 60 hours 10 mins on day raids and 139 hours on night raids – broken down as 13 day raids and 20 night raids, which was probably typical of 5 Group during the period Aug ’44 – April ’45. One of his night raids being Dresden on 13 February 1945 where they were airborne for 9 hours 30 mins and the longest time airborne was on a Boxing Day 1944 raid to Munich where they were in the air for 10 hours 10 mins and had to land at Kelstern instead of their home base of Skellingthorpe. – cheers – Allan 🙂
By: Dave Homewood - 12th September 2004 at 10:39
Thanks guys, that’s facinating, I knew all the light and medium bombers had almost free run of Europe by day after D Day but I’d never considered the heavy bombers being so active by day. I wonder if much film of daylight raids exists.
By: kev35 - 12th September 2004 at 10:38
Flt/Lt. Phillip Gray, author of ‘Ghosts of Targets Past’ flew around 16 ops towards the end of the war on Lancs with 186 Squadron at Stradishall. I think all bar two were daylights into Germany. IIRC he intimates that much of 3 Group’s activities at that time were carried out in daylight.
Regards,
kev35
By: allan125 - 12th September 2004 at 10:20
Daylight raids
Dave – After D-Day Bomber Command made extensive heavy daylight raids in support of the Normandy Battlefield – also, as the armies moved further into europe they took part in more and more daylight raids with very large numbers taking part. In a lot of cases escorts were RAF Mustangs – one wing being 150, commanded by W/C “Bill” Loud. 150 had formerly operated Tempest V’s during the anti-V1 campaign. They flew to B.60 Grimbergen in late September 1944 and changed places with the Mustangs of 122 Wing. 122 Wing’s history stating – “End of an Epoch – On 28th September the three Mustang Squadrons returned to England, amidst general lamentations, to carry out escort duties to day-raiding Lancasters. 122 Squadron had been with the Wing since May 1943, 19 and 65 just three months less. In that time they had become an integral part of 122, and had achieved some magnificent results.” – I had a cousin serve a 33 op tour with 61 squadron (Lanc’s), between August ’44 and April ’45, so I will check his logbook, which is on CD, to see how many daylight op’s he flew if you like ? – hope this helps 🙂 – Allan
By: archieraf - 12th September 2004 at 09:20
Dave,
Here are links to a couple of daylight raids on German battleships Scharnhorst & Gneisenau in 1941. http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/archie_bombercommand/raidonscharnhorstandgneisenau.html this one includes photographs of one of the Halifax a/c ditching after being hit over the target.
http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/archie_bombercommand/l9512tlustory1941.html is a page about a Halifax crew shot down on a daylight raid as told by two of the crew.
Sign In
September 12, 2004 at 7:50 am