205th BG 150 Sqd night shots

[researcher111]

I am no expert on the subject , I am talking about 205th BG Italy which
used very sophisticated aerial cameras during mining of Danube
and during the bombing of oil storages Giurgiu at Iron Gate. Some of those
night shots were taken with some sort of night light magnifiers and
some with flashes and some were rather very clear, kind of early NVG cams.

The 150th Sqd at Cerignola was the one who took these shots .

I haven't seen any night shots of the SAAF 60th recon Sqd
period 1944 nor any of Ploesti or Bucharest taken at night by
the same groups.

At some point I even believe that RAF may have used more sophisticated
camera than 15th and 8th AF's .

Details will be appreciated

[Col Bruggy]

Hello,

1/
No.205 Group RAF HQ. Foggia
No.330 Wing.(Amendola) No.150 Sqn RAF. (Wellingtons)
Date:2/3.6.1944
Target: Giurgiu (Danube)
A/C. Despatched: 44
MIA:1

2/
No.205 Group RAF HQ. Foggia.
No.236 Wing. (Foggia), No.104 Sqn. (Wellingtons)
Date:28/29.6.1944
Target: Giurgiu Oil Storage Plant.
A/C. Despatched: 105.
MIA: 5

Col.

[MW Giles]

As far as I know the RAF did not use night vision equipment on its cameras.

As well as the bombs the aircraft would drop a photoflash, which would trail behind the aircraft and explode at a pre-determined height above the ground. What you are seeing is the result of a 4.5 in photoflash exploding and illuminating the scene with a 200 million candle power flash lasting about 50 ms. The camera in the aircraft would cycle through a number of frames during the run and one or more would see ground detail when the flash went off.

The use of cameras in this way is why crew complained about having to fly straight and level for a time after the bombs had gone

Regards

Martin

[researcher111]

Martin

Exactly this is the info I was seeking on 205th GP recon equipment rather
grammar corrections , thanks very much and if by chance you have photos
and more details kindly post them .

The attached photo is originating from one of those missions over Giurgiu
possibly June 2/3 '44. What do you make out of this photo ? what is the
balloon shapped object above the photographer ? the droppable photo flash
u've mentioned ?

Alex K

[RSwank]

The photograph you have attached shows the bomb aimer using the bombsight. Compare it to the similar photo on this link.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_XIV_bomb_sight

If the photo was taken with a flash camera (not a flashbomb), the white blob is probably a reflection off something in the plane.

The photoflash bombs would probably have been carried in the bomb bay.

Here is an example of one type of photo flash bomb, I am not sure what would have been used in this case.
http://www.harringtonmuseum.org.uk/M46Photoflash.htm

[MW Giles]

The photoflash was 4.5 inches in diameter and was released downwards from the aircraft's flare chute automatically with the first bomb. It was pre-set on the ground to go off at 0.6 of the aircraft's intended bombing height - for an aircraft at 10,000ft it would go off at 6,000ft.

I suspect that the balloon object in the photo is a canvas screen placed around the nose turret to block out unwanted drafts and light. The nose guns were not normally used at night.

I know you don't want to be corrected but the RAF didn't (still doesn't) use 1 st, 2nd, 3rd etc suffixes for its units. Wouldn't want to be mistaken for a yank.


Regards

Martin

[RSwank]

Martin, is this the type of photoflash?

http://uxoinfo.com/blogcfc/client/in...fm?Ord_Id=FB80

[MW Giles]

I think it is, never having seen one up close. The weight is right and so are the operating principles

There are larger US models, which are better described as recce flares that were dropped from the bomb bay of the a/c and there are RAF hooded recce flares that descended on parachute but the ones on this site seem to fit the bill

Regards

Martin

[RSwank]

Martin, I found another description of a type called the M-23 ( also seen it labeled as M-23-A1), which is just a cardboard tube and must have weighed about 7 to 10 lbs. It sounds like it could be dropped out of a flare tube. It was primarily used at low altitude, so perhaps still not the right one.

https://books.google.com/books?id=aW...20tube&f=false

In the above link, discussing the cameras used, they had a type of electic eye that would fire the camera when the photoflash was detected.

[researcher111]

Martin

Thanks a lot for your updates also same to you Swank. Given they dropped the flare
(flash ) at 6'000 ft and pilot was required to fly on steady course for sometime to
allow recon shots completed these flares illuminated the skies for a quite a while making
the bombers an easy hunt for the Luftwaffe night fighters in Bucharest and
those based in Bulgaria . Were there any countermeasures or enemy avoidance
procedure in place at 205th GP once the flashes were dropped ?

Alex K