He flew with a Handley Page Halifax (type V, serial LK902, code MP-H).
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS
(Eighth Air Force): VIII Bomber Command Mission 147: 4 B-17's drop 800,000 leaflets on Rouen, Lille and Paris, France at 0222-0333 hours. VIII Bomber Command Mission 148: 4 B-17's drop 800,000 leaflets on Le Mans, Orleans, Tours and Laval, France at 2037-2125 hours. The 367th Fighter Squadron, 358th Fighter Group, transfers from Goxhill to Leiston, England with P-47D's.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS
(Ninth Air Force): A Ninth Air Force directive establishes Operation CROSSBOW (operations against German missile launching sites) for the IX Bomber Command and provides a list of targets to be attacked immediately. 203 B-26's dispatched to attack the airfields at Chievres, Belgium and Lille/Vendeville, France must abort mission due to bad weather. HQ IX Air Support Command is activated at Aldermaston Court, England.
527 aircraft - 307 Lancasters, 220 Halifaxes - to Leipzig. Despite the loss of two pressmen on the previous night, the well-known American broadcaster, Ed Murrow, flew on the raid with a 619 Squadron Lancaster crew. He returned safely. The bomber force took another direct route towards Berlin before turning off to bomb Leipzig. German fighters were in the bomber stream and scoring successes before the turn was made but most of them were then directed to Berlin when the Mosquito diversion opened there. There were few fighters over Leipzig and only 3 bombers are believed to have been lost in the target area, 2 of them being shot down by flak. A relatively successful raid, from the point of view of bomber casualties, was spoiled when many aircraft flew by mistake into the Frankfurt defended area on the long southern withdrawal route and more than half of the bombers shot down on this night were lost there. 24 aircraft - 15 Halifaxes, 9 Lancasters - were lost, 4.6 per cent of the force. The Pathfinders found and marked this distant inland target accurately and the bombing was very effective; this was the most successful raid on Leipzig during the war. A large area of housing and many industrial premises were severely damaged. One place which was hit by a large number of bombs was the former World Fair exhibition site, whose spacious buildings had been converted to become war factories, the largest buildings being taken over by the Junkers aircraft company.
9 Mosquitos in feint attack on Berlin, 3 RCM sorties, 12 Halifaxes minelaying in the Frisians. No losses.
9 Mosquitos to Duisburg, 48 aircraft minelaying in the Frisians, 9 OTU sorties. 1 Stirling minelayer and 1 OTU Whitley lost.
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