1,000 bomber raid on Bremem, 25/26th June 1942

[Adriano Baumgartner]

Good night to all!
Although I do have Bomber Command War Diaries ( not in my hands now ), I do not remember IF there was a diversionary bomb attack carried out by COASTAL COMMAND during the 1,000 Bomber Raid on Bremen, on 25/26th June 1942?
Please, does anybody have access to the Coastal Command losses that ocurred that night? I am particularly interested on a Hudson claim; although I do suspect a bad identification of victim, on this particular case.
Many thanks in advance
Adriano Baumgartner

[rafcommands]

Three Coastal Hudsons shot down all on main raid,

1 from 320 Sqn
2 from 206 Sqn

Regards
Ross

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Actually Coastal Command aircraft were used to reach the 1000-AC mark and bombed Bremen.

An exemple is the Hudson-equipped 206 Sqn:

Later in June twelve Hudsons of 206 Squadron were detached to North Coates for co-operation with Bomber Command. On the night of the twenty-fifth of June, 1942, they all took off within the space of ten minutes from Donna Nook (satellite to North Coates) to take part in the attack on the city of Bremen carried out by a thousand bombers from all the combatant commands. The Hudsons flew in four formations of three aircraft each, the formations being led, by A/S/L. Crook, S/L. Patrick, F/L. Roxburgh and F/O. Wills. The other aircraft Captains were F/O. Bland and P/O. Delarue, F/S. Bass and F/S. Clarke, and F/S. Hill and Sergeant Wright, F/S. Goodson and F/S. Biddell.
Owing to heavy cloud it was impossible to locate the special target allotted, which was the Deschimag U-boat building yard, and bombs were dropped in the vicinity of large fires. None of the crews reported engagements with enemy night fighters although several were seen. Aircraft "A" (F/L. Roxburgh) was badly damaged by anti-aircraft fire, landing at Base with its main spar broken. Aircraft "S" and "M" failed to return. The crew of the latter was Sergeant Wright, P/O. Phillips, Sergeant Payze, Sergeant Speed and Sergeant Peet. That of "S" consisted of A/S/L. Crook, P/O. Watson, F/S. Hubbard. They were accompanied by the Squadron Commander, W/C. Cooke; it was his first operational flight with the Squadron.
The rest of the force landed at North Coates, and the nine undamaged aircraft retuned to Aldergrove on June 27th. An entry in the July log states that:- "On or about this date (3/7/42) the bodies of Squadron Leader Crook and his gunner, F/Sgt. Hubbard, were taken from the North Sea by the Germans."

Source:
http://www.coastalcommand206.com/page3.htm

Of course the above RAF report telling that none of the crews reported engagements with enemy night fighters concerns only the crew that returned. Teh two missing Hudson might well have fallen to nightfighters.

[Adriano Baumgartner]

Ross and Laurent,
Many thanks for pointing me to the correct direction!
320 Squadron
Lost Lockheed Hudson serial T9435, codes NO*R nicknamed "Balikpapan" ( I do not know why or the meaning of it ). Aboard were: Off.vl.1ekl C J VAN DER GRAAF ( buried at Hamburg-Ohldorf ); Lt.t.z2ekl. W MATTIJSEN ( buried initially at Velsen-Duinhoff, later at Ijmuiden - maybe his hometown? ); Korp.tel. J BUT ( buried at Hamburg-Ohldorf ) and Vltg.mkr.3ekl J B BOLTE ( also buried at Hamburg-Ohldorf ). Regarding this particular loss, one can not have an insight, from the place were the crew were buried, to WHERE this Hudson crashed....it could be in Holland, or near Hamburg....so this one I could not trace or cross-check with what I do have...and there is NO entry ( Woods Claims ) to a corresponding loss....
206 SQUADRON
S/L C W Crook, DFC and crew was shot down aboard Hudson Mark V, serial AM606, codes VX*S. On your list was missing the name of F/Sgt Griffiths McGlynn ( RAF 643757 ) an W/OP-AG who was killed ( some sources pointing he was first listed as a POW - perhaps died of wounds received later...? )
Sgt Wright and crew were all shot down aboard Hudson Mark V, serial AM762, codes VX*M. From this crew, two were POW ( Sgt J W Speed and Sgt J H Peet ).

I found that S/L Crook, DFC and its crew were initially buried at PELLWORM island, which is near Büsum, West of Husum and Nordstrand. SO, from the submitted claim by Hoffmann, THIS could be the Hudson he claimed down during the 1,000 bomber raid over Bremem.

I do see that Sgt Wright crew were all buried at KIEL War Cemetery, which is also nearby. So, maybe...I also saw that 5th Staffel NJG 3 submitted 3 claims that night. I would like to know IF someone do know the identity of the second pilot to have claimed? OR maybe in Wood´s claim list, there is a typo ERROR of the same claim submitted by Hoffmann being written twice???? Another question to solve....

I do thank you very much for your HELP and for pointing me to the straight course. I will still check those losses to make sure I found the correct match between loss and claim.

Yours
Adriano Baumgartner

[Adriano Baumgartner]

PLEASE, could someone help me with a translation of the DUTCH ranks?
Lt.t.z2ekl = 2nd Lieutenant ( ????? )
Off.vl.1ekl = 1st Lieutenant ( ????? )
Korp.tel = Corporal ( ????? )
Vltg.mkr.3ekl = Sgt 3rd Class ( ????? )

[Bruce Dennis]

PHP Code:

320 Squadron 
Lost Lockheed Hudson serial T9435, codes NO*R nicknamed "Balikpapan" 
( I do not know why or the meaning of it ). 


Balikpapan is a port in Borneo, and 320 being a Dutch Squadron probably had links.

Bruce

[Laurent Rizzotti]

320 Sqn had the habit to give nicknames of his aircraft. Often they were ports used by the Dutch Navy (most of 320 Sqn airmen coming from the Dutch naval air service), either in Netherlands or in Netherlands East Indies (today called Indonesia).

For a list of 320 Sqn AC losses (with nicknames):
http://www.airwarweb.net/dutch/320losses.php

[rafcommands]

T9435
Shot down at Hamburg-Rahlstedt at 01:57 hrs.

AM606
Shot down by a night fighter and crashed into the North Sea at 01:32 hrs.
S/L C N Crook DFC
P/O J C Watson RCAF
F/Sgt G McGlynn
F/Sgt R A W Hubbard
W/C H D Cooke

AM762
Crashed into moorland after being shot down by a nightfighter. The two gunners bailed out but the remaining crew were trapped in the aircraft. German investigation teams found it impossible to recover them and they remained in the wreckage until an excavation was undertaken by the MRES team. F/Sgt Wright, P/O Phillips and Sgt Payze all rest in Kiel War Cemetery.
F/Sgt K D Wright
P/O D T W Phillips
Sgt R W Payze
Sgt J H Peet
Sgt J W Speed

Ross

[Hans Nauta]

Hello Adriano,

According to tje Interception and Tactics Reports of Bomber Command (reference AIR14/3408, National Archives London), Coastal Command aircraft were assigned to attack the Deschimag wharves at Bremen. Not really a diversion, just another part of Bremen (harbour in fact) to be bombed.

Best regards,
Hans Nauta