James E Linehan, MIA 1942 Wellington X3757

Good news!! This morning I received an email from the grand daughter of George Hillary's younger brother!!! She has received a phone call from the other Vogan family member that I had an email from. I have sent her all the details I've found so far and if she is happy I will post some more information later. Apparently George was known as Hillary.

Watch this space

EDIT Sorry, she is granddaughter of George's father's younger brother.

 

In my search to find the families of the other crew members of my uncle's plane I contacted BBC Radio Devon as Graham Lakeman came from Plymouth and they will be interviewing me sometime between 7.30 and 8am tomorrow (Thursday) morning if anyone is interested in hearing my dulcet tones

 

You will be pleased to know it went very well and I gave you guys and WW2Talk a very big plug, so expect lots of new members lol. That's thanks for all you help and input

 

I've just found this in some of my Dad's old photos. What type of plane is it? And what uniform is the chap on the right wearing?

Thanks

 

It looks like an Auster Mk III, the uniform looks like Khaki Drill more usually referred to as KD

 

Thanks Jedburgh. Where would KD be worn? Would the RAF have worn it or just the army chaps?

 

Basically anyone Army or RAF, in a tropical or sub-tropical climate - that woud give you the Mediterranean, Africa, the West Indies, possibly India, in Burma and Malaya they used to wear a mix of KD and OG (Olive Green) the latter if they were on ops, the KD back in a base camp.

 

I don't think it can be my uncle then as as far as I know he wasn't in the Med or any of those places. Would it have been used in the US or Canada when pilots were training?

 

In the southern states such as Florida and Georgia yes

 

This morning I received another email from the Vogan family and they have now managed to find a photo of Hillary. They feel that this must have been when he was an Air Cadet at St. Andrews College Airforce Cadets in Christchurch, as he is very young in the photo. It comes, apparently, from his Schools Memorial Book dated 1946, which is rather odd given that he went missing in 1942.

 

I have now been sent F/Sgt Vogan's bio, which seems to be very comprehensive:

The memorial Book dated 1946 was written after the war including all the deaths in wars to that date and all the pupils who attended St. Andrews College (Hillary's old School ) and died at the wars.

George Hillary (know as Hillary or Larry) Vogan born at Duvauchelle, Banks Peninsula, Canterbury, New Zealand on 16.6.1920 was the only son and only living child of William George and Martha (Marc) nee Hillary Vogan.

Hillary spent his first year at the local school at Duvauchelle, he was then sent to boarding School aged 7 years at St. Andrews College, Christchurch where he gained all his education til 1936 when he returned to his parents farm at Duvauchelle to work. It was while he was at school he spent 3 years in the Aircadets as a gunner.

In November 1940 he reported as a Gunner to a Ground Training Course at Levin, North Island, New Zealand. In January 1941 he embarked on the 'Aorangi' for Canada for training under the Empire Air Training Scheme. In Canada he trained at No. 4 Air Observers School, London, Ontario and at No.1 Bombing and Gunnery School, Jarvis Ontario. He was awarded his Air Observers badge on the 21st June, 1941 and 2 days later was promoted to Sergeant. While in the United Kingdom on the 1st January 1942 he was further promoted to Flight Sergeant. On the 23rd June 1941 he was posted to No.1 Advanced Navigation School, Rivers, Manitoba.

Early in August 1941, Flight Sergeant Vogan embarked for the United Kingdom, arriving at No 3 Personnel Reception Centre, Bournemouth at the end of August. On the 16th September 1941 he commenced operational training on Wellington Bomber aircraft at No. 11 Operational Training Unit, Bassingbourn, Herefordshire. On the completion of the course in November he was posted to No. 57 Squadron, Feltwell, Norfolk.

During the next 6 months Vogan was engaged as a navigator on Wellington aircraft, operating from Feltwell and later from the nearby satellite aerodrome, Nethwold in the same county. He carried out raids on targets in Germany including Kiel, Essen and Emden and also targets in France, including installations at Brest, Le Havre and Boulogne.

Flight Sergeant Vogan was the observer of a Wellington bomber aircraft engaged during the night of the 8/9th April 1942 in an attack on Hamburg. The aircraft failed to return to its base and all the crew including Vogan were classified as missing. This was his 18th operational flight. In due course his death was officially presumed to have occurred on the 8th April, 1942.

There was one other New Zealander in the crew, Pilot Officer N.P. Morse whose father lived at Mosman, New South Wales, Australia.

George Hillary Vogan No 404577. rank. Flight Sergeant was awarded

1. The 1039 - 45 Star.
2. The Aircrew Europe Star.
3. The War Medal 1939/45
4. The N.Z. War Medal.

His name appears on War Memorials at St. Andrews School, Christchurch; Duvauchelle Plaque to War dead in Duvauchelle Church and the Akaroa War Memorial.

George Hillary Vogan was a well respected member of the wider Vogan Family and still spoken of today as a really nice guy.

 

RIP Patrick John Linehan (Monday), last surviving brother of James E Linehan. . The end of an era and I still wasn't able to tell him the crash site of his brother's plane. :-(

 

Dear Nicola,

I read with care and attention this fascinating thread. I have to thank you for sharing with us this story.
I found it very interesting since in 2009 I found the wreck of an other Wellington bomber, LN466, on the Western Alps. I was lucky and helped enough to identify it and its crew.
Good luck,

Marco

 

RIP Patrick.. You and your brother can now be together again.

Keep up the good work Nic and please do get together with the families of the rest of the crew that you find because its a really special experience. I will go search through my pics of Runnymede for the one with Vorgan on it and will post it so you can then let the family have a copy. Its not much but adds to their store of memorabilia..

 

Dear Nicola,

I read with care and attention this fascinating thread. I have to thank you for sharing with us this story.
I found it very interesting since in 2009 I found the wreck of an other Wellington bomber, LN466, on the Western Alps. I was lucky and helped enough to identify it and its crew.
Good luck,

Marco

Thanks Marco

 

RIP Patrick.. You and your brother can now be together again.

Keep up the good work Nic and please do get together with the families of the rest of the crew that you find because its a really special experience. I will go search through my pics of Runnymede for the one with Vorgan on it and will post it so you can then let the family have a copy. Its not much but adds to their store of memorabilia..

Thanks Oggie. I already have a picture of all the crew names and have sent them to the families. Meeting up might be a bit difficult at the moment as one family are in Australia and one is in New Zealand.

It wasn't my brother, he's very much in the land of the living. It was my dad's last brother.

 

I've recently received more info about one of the possible crash sites, the one that is the general consensus, the site off Vlieland in the North Sea.

This comes from a Dutch site and seems to indicate that no Wellingtons were lost over that area on 8/4/1942 and nothing on 9/4/1942, only a Manchester (see image of Dutch website attached). Having had another look at the list from the German records [looking back through the thread I realised the list isn't German but post war Allied], it gives the Manchester site as being near Cloppenburg, which is south of Wilhelmshaven, and having occurred on the 9/4/1942. It also shows a Wellington going down near Terschelling on 9/4/1942.

I've asked the person where this information comes from and hopefully will hear tonight.

I'm just wondering how there can be 2 such varied sources of information and does this now exclude the North Sea site (the general consensus) and point more towards the other site? (My fav)

I've attached the German list again as I'm having problems seeing all the details and was hoping that perhaps some one with 'younger' eyes to see if they can transcribe all the details (pretty please).

Thanks

 

Here's the info I received last night about the crashes in the Wadden islands in Holland (Thanks to my source who is also a member on here):

The Islands I ment are the Waddeneilanden. There are 5 islands where people live on, from left to right Texel, Vlieland, Terschellingen, Ameland and Schiermonnikoog. There are also several where nobody lives, Noorderhaaks, Richel, Griend, Rif, Engelsmanplaat, Simonszand, Rottumerplaat, Rottumeroog, Zuiderduintjes. They are all in the North of the Netherlands and there are several in the North of Germany and Danmark aswell. These islands follow the coastline.

On these islands are a few organisations who have a lot of information about the war, aircrafts and crews. The following links are interesting.
World War II Allied Aircraft Crashes in The Netherlands
Home - Wadden in de oorlog

I´ve been sending an email to World War II Allied Aircraft Crashes in The Netherlands with the question if they have anything in their records but they couldn´t find anything.
I´ve also send a message to the Groesbeek war museum and got the following response today (in Dutch with a short translation).

Om Hamburg te bereiken is het waarschijnlijk dat zij een koers te noorden van de Waddeneilanden hebben gekozen, voor zowel de vlucht naar als van Hamburg. Dit om niet blootgesteld te worden aan Duits afweervuur. Ze hadden dan alleen te maken met het afweervuur vanaf enkele Duitse Waddeneilanden (Borkum, Helgoland)
Maar, gelet op het gegeven dat niets meer van het toestel is vernomen, is dit informatie over wat er zou kunnen zijn gebeurd.
To reach Hamburg they probably flew North of the Waddenislands, aswell for the fligth to as from Hamburg.
This to avoid German FLAK. They only had to deal then with the FLAK from the German Waddenislands Borkum and Helgoland.

Een ander gevaar voor hen was een botsing in de lucht met een ander toestel van de RAF.
Veelal betekende een botsing dat beide toestellen ten onder gingen. Uit de gegevens voor die nacht, er zijn zes toestellen verloren gegaan, blijkt niets van een botsing.
Another danger was a collision in the air with another aircraft from the RAF. Most of the time this meant that both aircrafts would crash. In their records for that night, 6 aircrafts were lost but no collision.


Een ander gevaar voor hen waren Duitse nachtjagers. Ten noorden van de Waddeneilanden opereerden de nachtjagers van het Nacht Jagd Geschwader 1 dat gestationeerd was op Leeuwarden.
Uit documentatie blijkt niet dat het toestel door een nachtjager van die basis is neergeschoten.
Another danger were the German night-fighters. North of the Waddeneilanden the Nacht Jagd Geschwader 1 (German night-fighters) were active and stationed on Leeuwarden airbase.

Further some more details about the crew and the advice to get in contact with the 57 Sqdn.

To be honost Nicola, I don`t think they crashed near the Dutch islands but I think we have toconcentrate the search to the German islands. I do believe they crashed in the Northsee or on German soil in the North somewhere. Crashes in the Netherlands are well documented and although not everybody has been found most German records in the Netherlands were saved. They were proud to discribe every minute of their action and if they saw a plane comming down. When a plane crashed in the sea they would find a corpse the next day, weeks or even months later. It was difficult to identify them after being in the water so long but most of the time they did, sometime years after the war.
I will see if I can find anything about crashed around the German islands and of airbase Leeuwarden. Hopefully be back with more information soon.



This seems to confirm that x3757 didn't crash in Dutch waters, but either German waters or German land.

 

Thanks to PsyWar.Org - Lee for photographing the operational reports for that night.

I knew this information must exist somewhere. It adds so much to what I have already discovered. I would like to post the pics as well but there's about 80mbs. Can a Mod here me here please?


AIR 14/3087

Picture ref: DSC05926 - refers to the pics Lee took

SECRET - IMMEDIATE

From: HQ No3 Group

To: Feltwell plus other airfields

Raid code name DACE (I think this is what it is referring to)

Aiming point - centre of Old Town (Hamburg) 1400 yards 234degress from DACE 'C'

Feltwell - 18 Wellingtons

Route out for all a/c on Dace as follows:
Outward: Base - North of Heligoland - Zeven - Target
Return: From target - NNW to Bnd Branstedt - N of Heligoland - Base

Time: Zero hour: Midnight, Over target: zero to zero plus 80 minutes

Stations are to spread their attacks evenly over this period

Picture ref: DSC05927

Bomb loads
To be divided by Stations in pro-portion of 2/3rds intends, plus 1/3 high explosives

Incendiary loads to include 30lb intends if available, if not Wellingtons to carry albs intends

HE loads to include max 1900lb or 1000lb GP.025 made up with 500 GP 025., 4000lb HC on 423s as available

Flares may be dropped by experienced crews from a height not to ignite above 3,000 ft.

Freshmen crews were allowed Max 250lb GP .025 or TI - I'm presuming that X3757 were no longer considered a freshman crew as they had flown several missions by this point.

Picture ref: DSC05928

Route:
Bases - North of Heligoland - Zeven - and attack target from SW to NE, route home N of Heligoland

Zero hour: 23.59

Intercommunication in accordance with 5G S 1 NG 1 Acknowledge by teleprinter

Picture ref: DSC05930

Sub note = After 234 insert degrees = 1756

Picture ref: DSC05931

GR3587 - allotted special target - to cause max damage to industrial centre & max damage to a shipyard

GR3587 - DACE - The primary target is aiming point in the centre of the Old Town, 1400 yards 234 degrees from point 'illegible' on the relevant photograph (wonder if I can find the photo)

GR3587 - If neither of the primary targets can be identified the town DACE may be attacked as alternative

Last resort target for all a/c in accordance with BCVO part iv sect 1 para 29 or any built up area in Germany which can be seen.

Picture ref: DSC05932

Immediate - Secret not Wireless telegraphy W/T

To destroy all shipping and docks
Cameras to be carried in all A/C and max number of photos to be taken. Reasons to be stated when no photos taken.

Times on target to be notified later

Max number of 250lb GP bombs TD 0.025 according to pilots abilities

Picture ref: DSC05933

From HQBC (Headquarters Bomber Command)

To Feltwell plus other airfields (which I've not listed as not relevant to us)

Feltwell = 18 Wellingtons - Dace, aiming at centre of Old town 1400 yards 234 degs from Dace "C'. I think Dace is the codename for Hamburg.

Lattice co-ordinates (not sure what this means)
B: 4.35 Chart series 11, C: 39.37 Chart series 11


AIR24/242

Picture ref: DSC05938

SECRET
Interceptions/Tactics report No 61/42
Night 8/9 april 1942

Main target:
Hamburg 3Gp 63 Wellingtons Mk3
9 Aircraft attacked
E/A (enemy a/c attacks) - None
E/A Encounters - 1
Other A/C seen - 3
Missing - 2 (X3757 being one I presume)

Bombing particulars:
Hamburg 3Gp
Time: 00.08-00.34, 00.30-00.50, 00.08/01.57
Av. bombing height: 15,000ft, 16,000ft, 18,000ft
Av bomb load per A/C: 6,750 lbs, 2,160 lbs, 3,459 lbs

Picture ref: DSC05939

Weather
Hamburg - 7/10-9/10 convection cloud, tops to 12,000ft. Isolated tops to 18,000ft with static. Visibility good.

Route to Hamburg - 5/10-9/10 convection cloud, tops generally 8/10,000ft, but isolated tops well above this level. One report of tops 24,000ft. Moderate clear ice in cloud. Good visibility.

Heligoland Bight - 10/10 layer cloud, base probably about 7.. (goes into fold of document

Routes:
3 Group: various routes listed I think for the various bases (see pics DSC05939 & DSC05940 for all). Feltwell doesn't seem to be specifically mentioned but I wonder whether this particular bit was referenced by some other name such as in the Shipping forecast names.

Picture ref: DSC05941

Encounters/other A/C seen:
1) Terschilling 20 miles NNW 22.55hrs. 19,000ft, Well mk3 sighted Ju88 passing across stern 51 yards behind (this seems to tie in with the crashsite given NW of Vlieland - islands are close to each other)
2) Heligoland 23.38 hrs. 12,500ft E/A seen p…. (can't read- in fold-passed?) on port beam 200ft above WellMk. Evasive action taken.
3) Nordeney 10 miles N 23.42 hrs. 16,000ft. Well (I think - can't see all the word) 50ft higher, going opposite direction. Seen only few seconds.
4) Emden 00.40hrs. 14,000ft. Well Mk3 sighted unidentified a/c going same direction. slight;y below and in front, exhaust flames seen. A/C also appeared to be carrying reddish light, S/ls or flak. No action.
5) 52 digs 58'N. 02deg 30'E. 00.50 hrs. 15,000ft. Stirling heading SW saw unidentified S/E a/c with red light in front. Crossed one mile astern flying from W to E.
6) Tershelling 75 miles NNW. 02.13hrs 14,000ft. WellMk3 course 252 deg. Orange headlight flickered across our a/c from about 500 ids on port beam 200ft below and approached our a/c. Our a/c turned to port and r/gunner fired one short burst as E/A crossed tail. No IFF.

Flak/Searchlight/Other aids to defense
Hamburg:
moderate light and heavy flak from town and along estuary to North of Elbe. S/Ls unable to penetrate cloud but followed track of individual a/c.

Picture ref: DSC05942

Wireless intelligence:
Enemy Night fighter Units heard operating:
23.09-03.22 II/NJG2, 7 a/c operated with Leewarden (german airbase in North Holland) and Ardorf/Wittmundhafen

Items of interest from intercepted traffic:
More than 27 night flighters were heard between 21.00 and 04.00 hrs in areas with included E Frisians, De Kooy-Leeuwarden, South Belgium and NW Germany.

Encounters or combats where no evidence is available as to result occurred at 23.44-46, 23.37-40, 22.30-44, 23.12-39, 01.12-23, 01.08-52, 01.06-42, 01.04-02.01, 00.47-53, 01.38-02.03, 06.16-40.

British a/c were claimed as destroyed at 00.31, 00.46 and 00.49 hrs in the Bremen area.

Own observations (the records's own not mine):
1 Group
1) Frisian islands. 15 miles NNW. 01.25 hrs. 11,000ft. Eveidnce of combat seen, streams of tracer bullets fired in both directions.
2) Neuwark 6 miles S. 23.40 hrs. 20,000ft. Assumed to be a four engined a/c with four fires in line apparently from exhaust, seen at 15,000ft. A/ made perfect target but was continuing on its course.

2 Group
1) Leeuwardedn A/D. 01.17 hrs. 1,000ft. E/E with navigation lights on circling the a/d.

3 Group
1) Hamburg Area 00.35 hrs. 14,000ft. About 10 miles SE. A/C seen falling in flames, held in S/L cone. Intense heavy flak, exploded on reaching the ground.
2) Bremerhaven N. 23.55 hrs. 20,000ft. A plume of smoke observed, which descended towards Bederkesa - believed to be falling a/c.

4 Group
1) Bremen area, believed 01.20 hrs.18,000ft. Wellington held in searchlights with flak co-operating and one engine hit. Fired six white stars then four white stars, four red stars. finally six red stars all without result.
2) Hamburg area, believed 00.34 hrs. 16,000ft. what was thought to be a/c go down in flames from concentration of S/Ls and heavy flak.

5 Group
1) Cuxhaven 15 miles NW 23.45 hrs. 12,000ft. Burning a/c seen over heavy flask at Cuxhaven.
2) Mouth of Elbe 00.01 hrs 9,000ft. Large red glow in sky lasting about 1 minute in the distance of Wangerooge.

Picture ref: DSC05943

Enemy claims/own losses
Enemy claims
British bombers attacked some towns in the North German coastal areas. Four enemy bombers were shot down.

Bomber Command
Total sorties 328
Missing a/c unaccounted for 5
Damaged by E/A None

Coastal Command Missing -
Fighter Command Missing -

Appreciation
1) One of the missing Wellingtons of 4 Group sent SOS and is believed to have come down in the sea near SPURN HEAD. Nothing further is known of this or any of the other four missing aircraft. All five missing aircraft were on HAMBURG.

2) Weather conditions en route were unfavourable, static and icing being experienced. cloud over the target interfered with S/L operation and flak opposition was not intense.

3) Night fighters were active in rather fewer numbers than on previous nights. there were fewer sighting and only one attack developed. A combat seen (1 Grp.Obs.1) but not reported by the a/c involved may indicate a loss to fighters in the Firsian Islands areas. three claims to success were heard at other times.

4) Observations of other a/c indicate losses to flak at HMABURG and possible at CUXHAVEN.

5) Estimated causes of losses are - 2 to fighters, 2 to lfak and one to "causes unknown".

Picture ref: DSC05944

Picture shows raid tracks for 1/2 April 1942. the top route is the route that X3757 would have taken on 8/9 April 1942.

Picture ref: DSC05945

Shows a list of all the available crew and a/c on 8th April 1942

3 Group
Wellingtons A/C fit 111, Crew fit 94, Day only (not sure what this means) -, Freshman 8, U/T (under training) 11, Leave 13, Non Effective (probably missing/sick) 17, Establishment 180, total crews 144, total a/c with crews 100.

Picture ref: DSC05946

Shows a list of all the available crew and a/c on 9th April 1942 after the raid

3 Group
Wellingtons A/C fit 100, Crews fit 91, Day only -, Freshmen 8, U/T 13, Leave 19, Non effective 11, Establishment 180, Total crews 142, total a/c with crews 95.

Picture ref: DSC05947

This gives specific targets but I haven't quite worked this out yet.

Picture ref: DSC05948

SECRET HQBC

Bomber Command Intelligence Summary No 339 (Supplementary

Enemy Aircraft observed
1) Night 8/9 april Stade aerodrome 00.31 hrs. S/E a/c with red wing tip lights.
Trischen, south of, 00.30 hrs, T/E a/c carrying 2 bright lights.
Hamburg 00.20 hrs. Unidentified a/c. 10 miles SW. 00.01 hrs. S/E E/A.
Heligoland 4 miles SW. 01.35 hrs. 2 S/E a/c with red and green lights.
Juist. 15 miles North. 23.45 hrs. S/E a/c.
Schiermonnikoog 20 miles North. 23.10 hrs. Unidentified a/c with green light in nose.
Heligoland 5 miles south. 23.45 hrs S/E E/A.
Elbe Estuary 00.20 hrs. Unidentified a/c with green light in nose.
Terschelling 60 miles NW 23.45 hrs. Unidentified a/c.
le Havre 00.05 hrs S/E E/A 6 miles West.

Encounters with E/A
2) Night 8/9 April. Frisian Islands. 15 miles NNW 11, 000ft. Evidence of combat seen by Wellington. Stream of tracer bullets air fed in both directions.

Enemy Air Stations
3) Night 8/9 April. Bremerhaven/Wesenmunde. 01.05 hrs. Flarepath lit and aircraft taking off.

Dummies
4) Night 8/9 April. Hamburg area. Numerous dummy fires observed but impossible to pin-point. 10 miles SW rectangular dummy.
Stade aerodrome 20 miles West 00.31 hrs. flickering white light believed dummy aerodrome.
Nordholz 00.30hrs 21,000ft. Dummy aerodrome flarepath appeared larger than normal from this height.
Bremerhaven 10 miles East 00.14 hrs. Large dummy fire.
53.57N. 0850 E 00.13 hrs. Large red fire, believed dummy.

Flak ships
5) Night 8/9 April. Heligoland and Cuxhaven. Flakships reported firing heavy inaccurate.
Frisian islands 20 miles north. 00.10 hrs-01.30 hrs 18/19,000ft. 4 aircraft report flagships placed apparently to simulate coastline.

Enemy Recognition Signals
6) Night 8/9 April
52.44 N, 02.35E, 02.10 hrs 8,000ft. One red, 2 green and 1 yellowish light fired from sea.
54.05N. 01.43E. 5-10 miles south 9,000ft. Red very (don't know what this is)light fired 5.

Picture ref: DSC05949

SECRET by teleprinter

Bomber Command Intelligence Narrative of Operations No 339

Night 8/9 April
A total of 328 a/c were despatched to attack Hamburg, Le Havre and enemy occupied a/ds and to lay mines.

Hamburg
Weather conditions were very bad and most a/c found 7/10 to 10/10 cloud with much haze over the target area. Severe icing and electrical storms were experienced en route. Of 272 a/c detailed to attack, 108 Wellingtons ……… were forced to drop their bombs on E.T. … (not sure what the ET bit means) and the only results observed were the reflection of bursts and some fires seen through cloud. A/c unable to reach the primary, bombed the following places: Emden, Wilhelmshaven,(I personally think this is where z3957 went down) Stade area, Tomming, Bremen, Wesenmunde and Heligoland.

Picture ref: DSC05950

Bomber Command Summary of Operations

Night 8/9 April 1942 (Primary)

Target: Hamburg and area
Group: 3 Group
Type of A/C: Wellington
No despatched: 80
No which attacked: 49
Number & type of bombs dropped: 2 x 4,000 HC, 8 x 2,000, 10 x 1,000, 66 x 500, 15 x 250
Total weight on tons 31.6
Inceniaries: 650 x 30

General results and remarks
Majority of A/C bombed the estimated position owing to 10/10ths cloud. results unobserved except for occasional glow of fires reflected on cloud.
2 of these Wellingtons are missing (one of course being x3757).

Picture ref: DSC05952

Bomber Command Summary of Operations (continued)

Night 8/9 April 1942 (Other Targets)

I'm just going to type 3 Groups results - check the actual pic if you want to see the other Groups results.

3 Group
Wellingtons
Nordeney Island
No of planes that attacked: 1
Bombs dropped: 2 x 1,000
Tons: .9
Results: Results Unbserved

Heligoland
No of planes that attacked: 1
Bombs dropped: 2 x 1,000, 4 x 500
Tons: 1.8
Results: Bursts seen

Haahstede
No of planes: 1
Bombs dropped: 2 x 1,000, 4 x 500
Tons: 1.8
Results: Bursts seen

Cuxhaven
No of planes: 2
Bombs dropped: 1 x 1,000, 6 x 500
Tons: 1.8
Incendiaries: 8 x 30
Results: Bursts seen

Emen
No of planes: 1
Bombs dropped: 2 x 500, 1 x 250
Tons: .6
Incendiaries: 540 x 4
Results: Bursts seen

Unidentified targets NW Germany
No of planes: 1
Bombs dropped: 2 x 1,000, 4 x 500
Tons: 1.8
Results: One flash seen

Unidentified A/drome NW Germany
No of planes: 1
Bombs dropped: 3 x 500
Tons: .7
Incendiaries: 44 x 30
Results: Small fires started

Picture ref: DSC05953

Bomber Command Summary of Operations (continued)

Night 8/9 April 1942 (Other Targets)

I'm just going to type 3 Groups results - check the actual pic if you want to see the other Groups results.

Active Sorties
3 Group 22 Wellingtons on Hamburg

3 Group Wellingtons
Despatched: 86
Attacked: 80
HE tons: 46.2 (702 x 30, 540 x 4)

Reports O/S (I presume this means Outstanding so probably X3757s report)
3 Group 1 Wellington on Hamburg

Missing
3 Group 1 Wellington - 57 Sqdn - (x3757). 1 Wellington 419 Sqdn.

In Sea - 5 Group - 1 Manchester 83 Sqdn - is this the Manchester that the Dutch records show as being 20 miles NW of Vlieland ie the place where the general consensus puts x3757. Does this prove finally that x3757 didn't crash there!!!

 

I've attached the 3 photos I feel are relevant to the transcript: