[ATCCbengt]

Hi all posters.

AIR 27/1701 ORB 315 Sqn: Four pair of Mustang III patroling off the Norwegian coast. The first pair departed Peterhead at time 1140.

AIR 25/455 Appendix No. 18 Group:
One Liberator from 224 Sqn.
Two Warwicks ASR from 281 Sqn.
Four Liberators from 311 Sqn.
Two Liberators from 547 Sqn. (should be three but one was recalled due to bad weather getting worse)
All orders from Group stated that Mustang aircraft would be flying between the the patroling Liberators and the coast.

The Liberators was trying to catch German U-boats entering or leaving the port of Bergen, or other Norwegian ports or harbours used by the German U-boat arm. The Norwegian bases were by that time very important due to the loss of the bases on the French west-coast. Coastal Command had moved most of its long range anti U-boat squadrons north to counter this, and was operating daily off the Norwegian coast as far north as the Lofoten islands.
There is no mentioning why the Poles were ordered to patrol the coast on the 10 November, and not the 9 or 11.

Regards
Bengt