Hildesheim bombing, March 22nd 1945

[ChristianK]

Gentlemen,

I am looking for the squadrons of Nos. 1+8 Group RAF involved in the above mentioned air raid, i.e. which units were deployed and how did the losses of four aircraft occur? Any additional information on this mission would be welcomed, too.

Thanks in advance,
Christian

[Ex Shack]

Hi Christian
From
RAF Bomber Command Losses Vol 6 by, W R Chorley there were 5 losses on the Hildersheim raid but 1 occurred in UK when Lancaster KB832,WL-F, of 434 Sqn failed to get airborne at Croft. 150 Sqn Lanc ME451, IQ-D, was lost with 6 crew killed and 1 said to be safe. 166 Sqn Lanc PD365,AS-X, was lost with all it's crew KIA. The cause of these losses is not given. 428 Sqn Lanc KB777 NA-V, was abandoned by most of it's crew who became POW whilst 3 were KIA, one of whom has no known grave. It was seen at 5000ft with a burning engine escorted by 2 P51'S. 431 Sqn Lanc. KB808,SE-Y, was hit by Flak and exploded over the target area killing all 8 on board( possibly it had an extra pilot flying with the crew before taking his own crew into action)
Regards
Dick

[ChristianK]

Thanks for your quick answer, Dick. Which other squadrons (besides those already mentioned), where involved in this mission?

[Peter Clare]

Bomber Command raid on Hildesheim 22 March 1945

227 Lancaster's and 8 Mosquitoes of 1 and 8 groups.
The target was the railway yards; these were bombed but the surrounding built up area also suffered severely in what was virtually and area attack. This was the only major Bomber Command raid of the war on Hildesheim and the post-war British survey found that 263 acres, 70 per cent of the town had been destroyed. The local report states that the inner town suffered the most damage. The Cathedral, most of the churches and many historic buildings were destroyed. A total of 3,302 blocks of flats (containing more that 10,000 apartments) were destroyed of seriously damaged. !,645 people were killed.

Bomber Command War Diaries - Middlebrook / Everitt.

Regards
Peter

[Dale1981]

My Grandfather was a Navigator on Lancaster ME499 (D-Dog) for the Hildesheim raid on 22 March 1945 (Fg Off F Ricketts of 166 Sqn, RAF Kirmington) with Fg Off Wylde as Captain.They were the lead aircraft on the Order of Battle. It was his 35th sortie out of 36 completed between Oct1944 and March1945.

They carried 1 x 400Ib HC, 1970 x 4Ib incendiaries. They dropped the load at 14:04 hrs from 15,500ft and reported "bombs dropped on centre of built up area. Very concentrated attack."

He and his crew then bombed Harpenerweg two days later for their final sortie of the war. They carried out their full tour of duty from 0ctober 1944 to March 1945 only encountering enemy aircraft on one occasion, reporting that the mid-gunner fired 50 rounds at an unidentified fighter aircraft approaching from the above port side at 400 yards.

[Zippy1]

One of the two aircraft that came down over the city was hit by bombs from an aircraft above it and exploded. The wreck came down near Dingworth Straße and there are photos of it in Hermann Meyer Hartmann's book "Zielpunkt. Der raum Hildesheim im Luftkrieg" as far as I recall.

[Dave Wallace]

8 Group dispatched the 8 Mosquitos and 39 Lancasters, including the Master Bomber and Deputy Master Bomber. 4 Oboe Mosquitos from 109 Squadron and 4 from 105 Squadron were tasked with the primary marking, 3 of which made successful attacks from 32,000 ft. It looks like H-Hour was about 14.00. Oboe TI’s went down at 13.59

[Dave Wallace]

Looking at the Summary of Damage to Aircraft on Operations, it shows the following squadrons suffering damage on this op.
1 Group - 150,153,166,170,550,576
6 Group - 419,427,428,431,434
8 Group - 7,156,405 + 4 Mosquitos each from 109 & 105.

[MW Giles]

100 Lancaster 14
103 Lancaster 10
150 Lancaster 14
153 Lancaster 15
166 Lancaster 19
170 Lancaster 13
550 Lancaster 16
576 Lancaster 13
625 Lancaster 23
626 Lancaster 15

419 Lancaster 14
424 Lancaster 14
427 Lancaster 15
428 Lancaster 15
431 Lancaster 8
433 Lancaster 14
434 Lancaster 8

7 Lancaster 12 (4BSM, 4VC, PVM, 3S)
156 Lancaster 14 (5BSM, 2VC, PVM, 6S)
405 Lancaster 13 (MB S/L Vann, DMB F/L Dix, VC, 5BSM, 5S)

105 Mosquito 4
109 Mosquito 4


4 Group went to Dülmen. 408 to 434 Sqns were 6 Group, 466 Sqn was never part of 1 Group

Martin