19th February 1944

Leipzig

For the crews first mission they were flying in Halifax LV791 HD-N. This aircraft was lost on a raid to Acheres on the 30th April 1944.

They had taken off from Leconfield at 23:59.

Their bomb load was 4x8x30 sbc's ( that is 4 containers with 8 bombs of 30lb capacity in each container ) and 8x90x4 sbc's ( that is 8 containers with 90 bombs of 4lb capacity in each of the containers ) totalling 3,840lb in bombs. The bombs were incendiary bombs, the 4lb bombs were magnesium and the 30lb bombs were phosphorous, an s.b.c. is a small bomb container.

They done their bomb run at 23,500 feet. The target was covered in complete cloud at 6,000 feet with flak bursting over the target area but well below their height. They had also sighted "enemy aircraft" on three occasions although none engaged with them in a fight.

Total of 823 aircraft involved - 561 Lancasters, 225 Halifaxes and 7 Mosquitos. 44 Lancasters and 34 Halifaxes were lost on this raid.

They landed back at Leconfield at 07:15

1st March 1944

Stuttgart

Their second mission was in Halifax HX243 HD-Q. This aircraft was lost on a raid to Stuttgart on the 24th July 1944.

They took off at 23:37 and landed at 03:14 after having to abort the mission. The decision to abort was because the guns in the rear turret had become frozen. Their bomb load for this mission was 4x8x30 sbc's and 8x90x4 sbc's totalling 3,840lbs in bombs. The bomb load was dumped at sea in a designated area.

The raid involved 557 aircraft of which 415 were Lancasters, 129 were Halifaxes and 13 were Mosquitos.

6th March 1944

Trappes

For the third mission they were in Halifax HX274 HD-X. This aircraft was lost on a raid to Tergnier on the 10th April 1944.

They had taken off from Leconfield at 18:46.

They done their bomb run at 15,000 feet with very clear visability. Their bomb load was 8x1,000lb and 7x500lb bombs totalling 11,500lbs in bombs.

They landed back at Leconfield at 00:18.

7th March 1944

Le Mans

The mission to Le Mans was in Halifax HX266 HD-T. This aircraft was the first of the Mk111 Halifaxes to be built, it survived the war and was finally struck off charge on 8th February 1947 after also serving with 1658 Heavy Conversion Unit.

They had taken off from Leconfield at 19:11.

Their bomb load was 7x1,000lb and 8x500lb bombs totalling 11,000lbs in bombs and they had done their bomb run at 15,000 feet. The target was covered in thin cloud upto 7,000 feet.

304 aircraft were involved - 242 Halifaxes, 56 Lancasters and 6 Mosquitos with no losses.

They landed back at Leconfield at 00:46.

15th March 1944

Stuttgart

For the mission to Stuttgart on the 15th March 1944 the crew were flying in Halifax HX266 HD-T again.

They had taken off from Leconfield at 18:54.

Just off the cost of Le Havre at 20:49 they spotted a fire in the sea and reported it on their return to base, this would seem to be the same incident that was noted by another 466 squadron aircraft LV837 coded HD-A flown by F/S Schuman who reported seeing an aircraft going down at 20:43 in flames and crashing into the sea at the same location.

Their bomb load consisted of 6x8x30 sbc's 6x90x4 sbc's totalling 3,600lbs in bombs, they had commenced their bomb run at 20,000 feet with the target being covered in 3/10ths cloud.

This mission involved 863 aircraft of which 617 were Lancasters, 230 were Halifaxes and 16 Mosquitos with a loss of 27 Lancasters and 10 Halifaxes.

They had landed back at Leconfield at 03:39.

18th March 1944

Frankfurt

They had taken off from RAF Leconfield at 19:18 to join a force of 846 aircraft from RAF Bomber Command including more than 600 Avro Lancasters, over 200 Halifaxes and more than a dozen Dehavilland Mosquitos. 10 Lancasters and 22 Halifaxes were lost on this mission.

For the mission on the 18th March 1944 they carried 8x90x4 s.b.c.'s and 6x8x30 s.b.c.'s totalling 4,320lbs in bombs. They also carried 7,000 rounds of .303 ammunition for the 9 machine guns ( 1 in the nose, 4 in the mid upper turret and 4 in the rear turret) most of the ammunition would have been for the rear-turret as the chances of a head-on attack at night was unlikely, and 1,808 gallons of fuel which should have allowed for between 6 and 7 hours of flying time.

As far as we have been able to establish LV827 was hit by flak around Darmstadt, south of Frankfurt, Germany and came down near the village of Wembach at around 22:00.

466 Squadron themselves lost three aircraft on this raid with four crew members becoming P.O.W.'s and seventeen being K.I.A. from the three aircraft. The other two aircraft being HX231 coded HD-B flown by F/Sgt J. Richards and LW369 coded HD-Y flown by F/Lt L. Curnow.