A Bomber Command Navigator 80 Years On – Operations Dortmund (14th April 1942) and Hamburg (18th April 1942)

After a quick trip to Manston on 13^th April 1942 in Stirling Q9313, Alan embarked on his 10^th operational mission the following day aboard Stirling J6072, again under the command of S/Ldr Ashworth. According to the logbook extract below, Alan and his crew took off at 2235 along with 7 other Stirlings from 218 Squadron, all bound for Dortmund.

Founded in 882, Dortmund was the largest city in Germany’s industrial “Ruhr” area. As a centre for steel and coal production (in 1938, Hoesch AG, the steel/mining conglomerate, employed 30000 people), Dortmund ended up being one of most heavily bombed German cities in World War 2. It can be seen from the Operations Record Book (ORB) below that the “attacks were made between eleven thousand and eighteen thousand feet” and “many fires were seen, but the glare of the searchlights and flares prevented accurate observation”.

Thanks to “T.R. fixes being confirmed by visual identification of the town or nearby landmarks”, it was reported that “over 55800lbs of bombs were dropped during this operation”.  In their specific report of the raid, Alan’s crew noted “the centre of the town received our bombs”,  while “a two engine fighter sighted about 600 yards on our port, when we were coned about 20 miles NE of Essen”, so “we fired two rounds from our rear turret and he drew off”. Despite this attention, J6072 made it safely back to base, along with the other 7 Squadron aircraft, 3 of which had been hit by flak.

218 Squadron Operations Records (April 1942) – Source: National Archives

Having swapped over a couple of aircraft (K7806 and S3717) during a day trip to Manston on 16^th April 1942, Alan undertook his 11^th operational mission on 18^th April 1942 in a different Stirling, again commanded by S/Ldr Ashworth. According to Alan’s logbook and the ORB below, Q9313, one of 12 aircraft despatched by 218 Squadron on this occasion, took off in “fine” weather and visibility of “10-20 miles generally” at 0016 bound for Hamburg, Germany’s second largest city, situated on the river Elbe. Dating back to the Holy Roman Empire, Hamburg was one of the largest ports in Europe with great commercial and industrial influence.

While Alan notes “Elbe identified” in his logbook remarks, the ORB states that “fires were started including one which was observed 40-50 miles away” and that “over 78500lbs of bombs were dropped during this operation”. Although some aircraft were hit by flak, reference to the individual crew reports confirms that all 12 Stirlings landed safely back at their Marham base, although W7521 piloted by F/Lt Humphreys had to make an early return due to technical problems. It should be noted that Hamburg was subject to a sustained bombing campaign by the RAF and USAF in July 1943 (codenamed Gomorrah by the RAF), resulting a dreadful firestorm which devastated the city and killed over 42000 citizens, although the precise number is unknown. Hamburg eventually surrendered to British forces on 3^rd May 1945.

218 Squadron Operations Records (April 1942) – Source: National Archives