Bowman - Voices in Flight: Daylight Bombing Operations 1939-1942

First Published in Great Britain in 2014 by
Pen & Sword Aviation
an imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire S70 2AS

Copyright Martin W Bowman, 2014
ISBN: 9781783831777
EPUB ISBN: 9781473861107
PRC ISBN: 9781473861091

The right of Martin W Bowman to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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Contents

Introduction

From the outbreak of the Second World War to the eve of VE Day, the medium bomber crews of 2 Group RAF and 2nd Tactical Air Force flew vital operations over Europe. Here their story is told, in thirteen independent chapters, many of them featuring the airmen and war correspondents who took part. Often the stories run in parallel and sometimes, overlap, because of the nature of these exploits and the aircraft types that entered service and were replaced by newer types as losses mounted and tactics changed. The first chapters concern the Blenheim Boys, who more than most suffered appalling losses attacking invasion barges on The Blackpool Front, the power stations at Cologne and the largely suicidal Blenheim Beats in the cruel North Sea against enemy shipping in a forlorn attempt to reduce German operations in the east. Recounted also are the days of carnage flying from East Anglia and Malta, The Year of the Circus and the Blockade of Brest when Stirling, Halifax, Wellington and Hampden heavy bombers used in daylight were found wanting and soon switched to attacks at night.

Blenheims too were gradually replaced, by aircraft such as the American-built Douglas Boston and the Lockheed Ventura and the North American B-25 Mitchell and of course, the de Havilland Mosquito, which proved the most successful of all. But the part played by the Boston and the Ventura and to a lesser extent, the B-25 Mitchell, is not overlooked. In 1942-43 these squadrons formed the spearhead of the raids by 2 Group on enemy ports and inland targets and on low-level pinpoint attacks against key targets in occupied Europe. The bringing together of such disparate aircraft culminated in Operation Oyster on Sunday 6th December 1942 when Bostons, Venturas and Mosquitoes bombed the Philips works at Eindhoven in Holland. RAF Bostons, Mitchells and Mosquitoes also helped to provide air cover for the Allied armies in the build-up to D-Day and beyond.

One of the reasons the American daylight bombing offensive from East Anglia ultimately proved so successful was because of the Boeing B-17s combat debut on 90 Squadron RAF against German warships in French harbours and in Scandinavia. Daylight raids using Fortress Is were largely unsuccessful and proved to be a costly experiment but improvements introduced by the RAF crews led to better oxygen systems, greater armament and self-sealing fuel tanks and armoured protection that was sadly lacking when the aircraft left the assembly lines in California. These innovations appeared on the late model B-17s and B-24s sent to the 8th Air Force in East Anglia which, in concert with the RAF by day and largely by night culminated in the round the clock bombing offensive which helped destroy Festung Europa and pave the way for the Allied invasion in June 1944.

Of course no book on RAF daylight raids on occupied Europe would be complete without the involvement of the incomparable Mosquito and the final chapter is largely a retrospective look at the daring daylight pin-point operations in 2nd TAF, which together with the RAF Bostons and Mitchells (and the US 9th Air Force medium bombers) contributed so much to the successful conclusion of the war in Europe.

Martin Bowman
Norwich 2014.

Prologue

Torquay 21/8/40

Dear Daddy,

As this letter will only be read after my death, it may seem a somewhat macabre document, but I do not want you to look on it in that way. I have always had a feeling that our stay on earth, that thing we call Life, is but a transistory stage in our development and that the dreaded monosyllable Death ought not to indicate anything to be feared. I have had my fling and must now pass on to the next stage, the consummation of all earthly experience. So dont worry about me; I shall be all right.

I would like to pay tribute to the courage which you and mother have shown, and will continue to show in these tragic times. It is easy to meet an enemy face to face, and to laugh him to scorn, but the unseen enemies Hardship, Anxiety and Despair are very different problems. You have held the family together as few could have done, and I take off my hat to you.

Now for a bit about myself. You know how I hated the idea of War, and that hate will remain with me forever. What has kept me going is the spiritual force to be derived from Music, its reflection of my own feelings, and the power it has to uplift the soul above earthly things. Mark has the same experiences as I have in this, though his medium of encouragement is Poetry. Now I am off to the source of Music, and can fulfil the vague longings of my soul in becoming part of the fountain whence all good comes. I have no belief in a personal God, but I do believe most strongly in a spiritual force which was the source of our being, and which will be our ultimate goal. If there is anything worth fighting for, it is the right to follow our own paths to this goal and to prevent our children from having their souls sterilized by Nazi doctrines. The most horrible aspect of Nazism is its system of education, of driving instead of leading out, and of putting State above all things spiritual. And so I have been fighting.

All I can do now is to voice my faith that this war will end in Victory, and that you will have many years before you in which to resume normal civil life. Good luck to you!

Pilot Officer Michael A. Scotts farewell letter to his father. Pilot Officer Scott RAFVR, B. A. Hons (Oxon), who was from Chester, was the pilot of Blenheim IV V5426 on 110 Squadron on 24 May 1941, which took off from Wattisham at 11.10 for a shipping sweep to Nordeney. He and his two crewmembers, Pilot Officer Julian Gill RAFVR, aged 32, married, of Teddington, Middlesex and WOp/AG, Sergeant Raymond A. Hewlett RAFVR of Taunton, Somerset, were shot down and killed by Leutnant Karl Rung of 2./JG 52 flying a Bf 109 at 14.30 hours, 120 kilometres NW of Texel after an attack on a convoy off Borkum. Scott was 25 years old when he died. Mr. Scott had three serving sons. Michaels brother Mark was lost at sea in January 1942.

Chapter 1

Bombers Alone Provide The Means Of Victory