Coastal Command Beaufighters May April

[Steve49]

Unfortunately I don't have Chorley's Coastal Command losses Volume 1 yet, so I wonder if anybody can confirm whether two Beaufighters were lost between 4th and 6th of April.

According to DEFE 2/366 No19 Group flew 18 sorties in support of Operation Myrmidon and there is a indication that two Beaufighters were lost, but it gives no further details. I wonder if anybody can confirm or discount these losses.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Regards

Steve Pegge

[Peter Clare]

Steve,

Coastal Command Losses is by Ross McNeill and not Chorley and as the book covers 1939-41 and Operation Myrmiden occured in April 1942 there are no details included.

I have no information on the loss of Beaufighters lost on this op but I do have extensive details reagrding the involvment on No.120 Squadron (Operation Skipper) and other units. If you feel that I can be of help please let me know as I would be interested in any details you might have on this little known action.

Regards
Peter Clare.

[Steve49]

Peter

Thanks for the reply (and the correction), hopefully I'll be getting the Coastal Command losses later in the year, but as you say with only covering up to the end of 1941 I'll have to wait for volume 2!

The only information I've got about Coastal Command and its support for operation Myrmidon is as follows;

3rd April - 3 sorties (by Sunderland's of 10 Sqn)
4th April -No sorties
5th April -5 sorties (2 by Liberator's of 120 Sqn and 3 by Sunderland's of 10 Sqn)
6th April -8 sorties (4 by Sunderland's of 10 Sqn and 4 by Beaufighter's, 2 each by 236 and 248 Sqn's)
7th April -1 sortie (by Blenhiem of 254 Sqn)

This is from TNA document DEFE 2/366. As I say it is possible two Beaufighter's may have been lost (presumably on the 6th), but I've found no confirmation and haven't had time to check the ORB's yet.

In case you're not aware, Myrmidon was a commando raid on Bayonne (which considering its location and the fact that the bombers of III/KG40 were nearby at Bordeaux) was a rather ambitious operation. The naval force and its commandos arrived offshore without detection, but the surf conditions prevented the landing craft from beaching so the operation was aborted and the raiders returned. They encountered some reconnaissance aircraft on the return, but the naval force (five destroyers and two landing ships were not attacked) and don't appear to have shotdown any aircraft.

Regards

Steve Pegge

[Peter Clare]

Steve,

The two aircraft of 120 Squadron which took part in this op were :-
Liberator MkI AM924 D/120. P/O. Secord.
Liberator MkI AM916 L/120. F/O. Procter.

Both aircraft saw action.

D/120 was attacked by an Arado float plane and sustained damage to a fuel tank and had to return to base flying tail down to stop the fuel leaking. My father was the flight engineer on this aircraft.

L/120 was engaged by three JU88s, the action lasted just over half an hour. Neither L/120 nor the enemy aircraft sustained damage.

I have put together the story of this operation through the following contacts.
No.120 Squadron ORB.
Mr. P F. George. Wop/Ag. D/120.
Mr. W C. Gordon. Wop/Ag. D/120.
A private paper that accompanies an army film of the raid discovered by Mr. H. Brown MBE.

Regards
Peter.

[Steve49]

Peter

Thanks for that information. I'm probably going to be visiting TNA on Thursday, so I should be able to look at the ORB's for 236 and 248 Sqn's and confirm whether any aircraft were missing.

Regards

Steve

[rafcommands]

Hi Steve,

Only Beaufighter Cat E loss on 6th/7th April 1942 was a MkIc of No.2 PRU off Crete!

Regards
Ross

[Steve49]

Ross,

Thanks, that'll be a no then.

Regards

Steve