Time of airborne Wellington Mk.IC (X9976), or the record book of 75 squadron.
 

Does anybody knows at which time the Wellington Mk. IC (X9976) of 75e Squadron was airborne in the 7th of November 1941 from Feltwell for a sortie to Berlin.

The plain crasht on 8th November 1941 @ Akkrum (Holland).


Are maybe somebody knows where i can found the record book of 75e squadron when they settled on Feltwell.

I hope somebody knows.

Thanks, Rene

Re: Time of airborne Wellington Mk.IC (X9976), or the record book of 75 squadron.
 

Sadly the time of take off from RAF Feltwell is not in RAF Bomber Command Losses by WR Chorley, which suggests that it was not written in the 75 Sqn Operations Book, as I know Bill researched every one he could find. There might be a slim chance that the F 540 Book for RAF Feltwell may have a note of when the Wellingtons took off that night - but often the F540 for RAF Stations had only admin type enties and very little else unless the base was raided.

Someone must know

Re: Time of airborne Wellington Mk.IC (X9976), or the record book of 75 squadron.
 

Given that the Wellington had a max speed of about 230 mph, cruise (loaded) about 180 mph, and that Berlin is about 550 miles, it would have taken somewhere between 3 and 3 and a half hours to reach its target. Ouldeboom is about 330 miles from Berlin, or 220 miles from Feltwell. Depending on whether it was shot down before reaching Berlin, then it was about an hour or 80 minutes after take off, or about 5 hours if shot down on the return leg. If it crashed at about 1:30, then it's more likely to have been on the return leg, given the dark nights of November, so around 19:30 would be my guesstimate.
It's more likely that German defences would be more ready for returning aircraft, having been alerted by them flying overhead a few hours earlier. Also if it left about midnight it would be returning about 07:00 by which time it would be getting near dawn.
All pure speculation, but I hope it helps building a picture.