90 squadron
90 squadron
I am a new memeber and am looking for information on 90 squadron regarding my late father F/L Syd Dyson who flew with this squadron under pilots S/LDR Wilson and S/LDR Hogg. He started 3/5/1943 at No 12 OTU Edgehill, B Flight 12 OTU at Chipping Warden (Wellingtons), 1657 Con Unit Stradishall (Stirlings)and joined 90 on 1/8/1943 completing his first tour on 6/5/1944 with 27 ops. I am particularly interested in ifno re special ops on 10/3/44, 27/4/44, 30/4/44 and 6/5/44
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K4KittyCrew
- Air Chief Marshal (RAAF)
- Posts: 3635
- Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2009 10:55 am
- Location: Gold Coast, Queensland - Australia
Re: 90 squadron
Hello MXD and welcome to our friendly forum. Trust you will enjoy your time here and I'm sure one of the members will assist you very shortly.
Regards,
john
Regards,
john
K for Kitty Crew - Winthorpe, 1661 HCU's - stirlingaircraftsoc.raf38group.org/
630 Squadron - East Kirkby
" There is nothing glorious about war with the exception of those who served us so valiantly"
630 Squadron - East Kirkby
" There is nothing glorious about war with the exception of those who served us so valiantly"
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Merlin
- Flight Sergeant
- Posts: 49
- Joined: Sun Jan 02, 2011 11:23 am
- Location: Lee-on-the-Solent, Hampshire,UK
Re: 90 squadron
Hello MXD welcome to this Forum
I have noted from Chorley Bomber Command Losses - the loss of StirlingIII EF147 WP-J on the 5-6 March 1944 Op.SOE; StirlingIII LJ509 WP-F on 10-11 March 1944 Op.SOE
and StirlingIII EE974 WP-M on 28-29 April 1944 Op.SOE
Do you have access to Chorleys books ?
Regards Merlin
I have noted from Chorley Bomber Command Losses - the loss of StirlingIII EF147 WP-J on the 5-6 March 1944 Op.SOE; StirlingIII LJ509 WP-F on 10-11 March 1944 Op.SOE
and StirlingIII EE974 WP-M on 28-29 April 1944 Op.SOE
Do you have access to Chorleys books ?
Regards Merlin
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K4KittyCrew
- Air Chief Marshal (RAAF)
- Posts: 3635
- Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2009 10:55 am
- Location: Gold Coast, Queensland - Australia
Re: 90 squadron
Hi MXD,
Don't know if this info is relevant to you ............it comes from the Royal Air Force Bomber Command 60th Anniversary site.
John
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
10/11 March 1944
102 Lancasters of No 5 Group carried out moonlight raids on 4 factories in France -33 aircraft to the Michelin works at Clermont-Ferrand, 30 to an aircraft factory at Châteauroux, 23 to Ossun and 16 (from 617 Squadron) to the La Ricamerie factory. All targets were successfully bombed. 1 Lancaster lost from the Clermont-Ferrand raid.
29 Mosquitos to Duisburg, 93 aircraft on Resistance operations. No losses.
26/27 April 1944
493 aircraft - 342 Lancasters, 133 Halifaxes, 18 Mosquitos - from all groups except No 5 despatched to Essen. 7 aircraft - 6 Lancasters, 1 Halifax - lost, 1.4 per cent of the force. The Bomber Command report states that this was an accurate attack, based on good Pathfinder ground-marking.
206 Lancasters and 11 Mosquitos of No 5 Group and 9 Lancasters of No 1 Group to Schweinfurt. 21 Lancasters lost, 9.3 per cent of the force. This raid was a failure. The low-level marking provided for the first time by Mosquitos of No 627 Squadron was not accurate. Unexpectedly strong head winds delayed the Lancaster marker aircraft and the main force of bombers. German night fighters were carrying out fierce attacks throughout the period of the raid. The bombing was not accurate and much of it fell outside Schweinfurt.
A Victoria Cross was awarded after the war to Sergeant Norman Jackson, a flight engineer in a Lancaster of No 106 Squadron which was shot down near Schweinfurt. The Lancaster was hit by a German night fighter and a fire started in a fuel tank in the wing near the fuselage. Sergeant Jackson climbed out of a hatch with a fire extinguisher, with another crew member holding the rigging lines of Jackson's parachute which had opened in the aircraft. Sergeant Jackson lost the fire extinguisher and, as both he and his parachute rigging were being affected by the fire, the men in the aircraft let the parachute go. Sergeant Jackson survived, though with serious burns and a broken ankle received on landing with his partially burnt parachute. The remainder of the crew baled out soon afterwards.
217 aircraft - 183 Halifaxes, 20 Lancasters, 14 Mosquitos of Nos 4, 6 and 8 Groups to Villeneuve St Georges. 1 Halifax lost.
Support and 16 Mosquitos to Hamburg, 10 Stirlings to Chambly, 12 RCM sorties, 20 Serrate and 13 Intruder patrols, 16 Halifaxes and 6 Stirlings minelaying off the Dutch coast and in the Frisians, 10 aircraft on Resistance operations, 21 OTU flights. 1 Serrate Mosquito lost.
Total effort for the night: 1,060 sorties, 30 aircraft (2.8 per cent) lost.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
27/28 April 1944
Friedrichshafen: 322 Lancasters and 1 Mosquito of Nos 1, 3, 6 and 8 Groups. This was a raid with some interesting aspects. The Air Ministry had urged Bomber Command to attack this relatively small town in moonlight because it contained important factories making engines and gearboxes for German tanks. But the flight to this target, deep in Southern Germany on a moonlit night, was potentially very dangerous; the disastrous attack on Nuremberg had taken place only 4 weeks previously in similar conditions. However, Friedrichshafen was further south and on the fringe of the German night-fighter defences; because of this and the various diversions which confused the German controllers, the bombers reached the target without being intercepted. However, the German fighters arrived at the target while the raid was taking place and 18 Lancasters were lost, 5.6 per cent of the force. 1,234 tons of bombs were dropped in an outstandingly successful attack based on good Pathfinder marking; Bomber Command later estimated that 99 acres of Friedrichshafen, 67 per cent of the town's built-up area, were devastated. Several factories were badly damaged and the tank gearbox factory was destroyed. When the American bombing survey team investigated this raid after the war, German officials said that this was the most damaging raid on tank production of the war.
223 aircraft - 191 Halifaxes, 16 Lancasters, 16 Mosquitos despatched to Aulnoye. 1 Halifax lost. Bombing was concentrated and much damage was caused to the railway yards.
144 aircraft - 120 Halifaxes, 16 Lancasters, 8 Mosquitos - to attack railway yards at Montzen on the Belgian-German border. The bombing force, particularly the second of the 2 waves, was intercepted by German fighters and 14 Halifaxes and 1 Lancaster were shot down. Only one part of the railway yards was hit by the bombing.The only Lancaster lost was that of Squadron Leader EM Blenkinsopp, a Canadian pilot of No 405 Squadron who was acting as Deputy Master Bomber. Blenkinsopp managed to team up with a Belgian Resistance group and remained with them until captured by the Germans in December 1944. He was taken to Hamburg to work as a forced labourer and later died in Belsen concentration camp 'of heart failure'. He has no known grave.
159 OTU aircraft on a diversionary sweep over the North Sea, 24 Mosquitos on diversion raid to Stuttgart, 11 RCM sorties, 19 Serrate and 6 Intruder patrols, 8 Halifaxes minelaying off Brest and Cherbourg, 44 aircraft on Resistance operations. 1 Serrate Mosquito lost.
Total effort for the night: 961 sorties, 35 aircraft (3.6 per cent) lost.
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29/30 April 1944
68 Lancasters and 5 Mosquitos of No 5 Group returned to the explosives factory at St Médard En Jalles and carried out concentrated bombing on it without loss.
54 Lancasters and 5 Mosquitos of No 5 Group attacked the Michelin tyre factory at Clermont-Ferrand accurately and without loss.
8 Mosquitos to Oberhausen and 4 to Achéres railway yards, 5 RCM sorties, 6 Serrate patrols, 34 Halifaxes and 4 Stirlings minelaying off French ports and in the Frisians. 20 aircraft on Resistance operations, 9 OTU sorties. No aircraft lost.
30 April/1 May 1944
143 aircraft - 114 Halifaxes, 20 Lancasters, 9 Mosquitos - of Nos 6 and 8 Groups despatched to Somain, south-east of Lille. 1 Halifax lost.The initial Oboe marking was inaccurate and the Master Bomber ordered the bombing force to wait. Most of the Halifaxes making up the Main Force either did not hear or ignored his orders and their bombs missed the target. Some damage was caused to the railway yards by the remainder of the force.
128 aircraft - 107 Halifaxes, 13 Lancasters, 8 Mosquitos - of Nos 4 and 8 Groups attacked the railway yards at Achères, near Paris without loss.The Mayor of this small town reports that the bombing completely destroyed the railway yards and that there were no civilian victims, the Mayor attributing this to the fact that the bombers flew at comparatively low level.
116 Lancasters of No 1 Group attacked the largest Luftwaffe bomb and ammunition dump at Maintenon in Northern France. The marking for this raid appears to have been provided by the No 1 Group Marking Flight, based at Binbrook; the Bomber Command records do not mention any other group taking part. The raid was entirely successful and a spectacular series of explosions were seen on the ground. French houses near by were not hit.
28 Mosquitos to Saarbrücken and 5 to Düren, 14 RCM sorties, 9 Serrate and 5 Intruder patrols, 48 Halifaxes minelaying off the French coast, 36 aircraft on Resistance operations, No aircraft lost.
Total effort for the night: 532 sorties, 1 aircraft (0.2 per cent) lost.
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5/6 May 1944
16 Halifaxes and 12 Stirlings minelaying off Channel and Biscay ports, 30 aircraft on Resistance operations, 6 OTU sorties. No losses.
6/7 May 1944
149 aircraft - 77 Halifaxes, 64 Lancasters, 8 Mosquitos - of Nos 4 and 8 Groups attacked railway installations in the Gassicourt suburb of Mantes La Jolie, to the west of Paris. 2 Lancasters and 1 Halifax lost. Bomber Command's records state that 'stores depots and locomotive sheds' were severely damaged but the local report shows that some of the bombing fell outside the railway objective. The western part of the town - including 'old Mantes', the suburb of Gassicourt and the hamlet of Dennemont - were all bombed.
64 Lancasters and 4 Mosquitos of No 5 Group attacked an ammunition dump at Sable Sur Sarthe which was destroyed by 'enormous explosions'. No aircraft lost.
52 Lancasters of No 1 Group attacked an ammunition dump at Aubigne accurately and the entire target was destroyed. 1 aircraft lost. The only Lancaster shot down on this raid, from No 576 Squadron, contained a senior officer who was flying as second pilot. This was Air Commodore R Ivelaw-Chapman, who was commanding a 'base' (usually 3 airfields) in No 1 Group. Ivelaw-Chapman had only just taken up this position after a staff job in which he had had access to details of the coming invasion. There was great anxiety in England that, if he became a prisoner of war, the Germans might hand him over to the Gestapo for questioning. He was taken prisoner but the Germans never realized his importance and he was treated in the normal manner.
28 Mosquitos to Ludwigshafen, 5 to Leverkusen and 2 to Châteaudun, 9 RCM sorties, 9 Serrate and 5 Intruder patrols, 8 Halifaxes and 6 Stirlings minelaying off Biscay ports. 33 aircraft on Resistance operations, 6 OTU sorties. 1 Mosquito lost from the Leverkusen raid.
Total effort for the night: 380 sorties, 5 aircraft (1.3 per cent) lost.
Don't know if this info is relevant to you ............it comes from the Royal Air Force Bomber Command 60th Anniversary site.
John
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
10/11 March 1944
102 Lancasters of No 5 Group carried out moonlight raids on 4 factories in France -33 aircraft to the Michelin works at Clermont-Ferrand, 30 to an aircraft factory at Châteauroux, 23 to Ossun and 16 (from 617 Squadron) to the La Ricamerie factory. All targets were successfully bombed. 1 Lancaster lost from the Clermont-Ferrand raid.
29 Mosquitos to Duisburg, 93 aircraft on Resistance operations. No losses.
26/27 April 1944
493 aircraft - 342 Lancasters, 133 Halifaxes, 18 Mosquitos - from all groups except No 5 despatched to Essen. 7 aircraft - 6 Lancasters, 1 Halifax - lost, 1.4 per cent of the force. The Bomber Command report states that this was an accurate attack, based on good Pathfinder ground-marking.
206 Lancasters and 11 Mosquitos of No 5 Group and 9 Lancasters of No 1 Group to Schweinfurt. 21 Lancasters lost, 9.3 per cent of the force. This raid was a failure. The low-level marking provided for the first time by Mosquitos of No 627 Squadron was not accurate. Unexpectedly strong head winds delayed the Lancaster marker aircraft and the main force of bombers. German night fighters were carrying out fierce attacks throughout the period of the raid. The bombing was not accurate and much of it fell outside Schweinfurt.
A Victoria Cross was awarded after the war to Sergeant Norman Jackson, a flight engineer in a Lancaster of No 106 Squadron which was shot down near Schweinfurt. The Lancaster was hit by a German night fighter and a fire started in a fuel tank in the wing near the fuselage. Sergeant Jackson climbed out of a hatch with a fire extinguisher, with another crew member holding the rigging lines of Jackson's parachute which had opened in the aircraft. Sergeant Jackson lost the fire extinguisher and, as both he and his parachute rigging were being affected by the fire, the men in the aircraft let the parachute go. Sergeant Jackson survived, though with serious burns and a broken ankle received on landing with his partially burnt parachute. The remainder of the crew baled out soon afterwards.
217 aircraft - 183 Halifaxes, 20 Lancasters, 14 Mosquitos of Nos 4, 6 and 8 Groups to Villeneuve St Georges. 1 Halifax lost.
Support and 16 Mosquitos to Hamburg, 10 Stirlings to Chambly, 12 RCM sorties, 20 Serrate and 13 Intruder patrols, 16 Halifaxes and 6 Stirlings minelaying off the Dutch coast and in the Frisians, 10 aircraft on Resistance operations, 21 OTU flights. 1 Serrate Mosquito lost.
Total effort for the night: 1,060 sorties, 30 aircraft (2.8 per cent) lost.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
27/28 April 1944
Friedrichshafen: 322 Lancasters and 1 Mosquito of Nos 1, 3, 6 and 8 Groups. This was a raid with some interesting aspects. The Air Ministry had urged Bomber Command to attack this relatively small town in moonlight because it contained important factories making engines and gearboxes for German tanks. But the flight to this target, deep in Southern Germany on a moonlit night, was potentially very dangerous; the disastrous attack on Nuremberg had taken place only 4 weeks previously in similar conditions. However, Friedrichshafen was further south and on the fringe of the German night-fighter defences; because of this and the various diversions which confused the German controllers, the bombers reached the target without being intercepted. However, the German fighters arrived at the target while the raid was taking place and 18 Lancasters were lost, 5.6 per cent of the force. 1,234 tons of bombs were dropped in an outstandingly successful attack based on good Pathfinder marking; Bomber Command later estimated that 99 acres of Friedrichshafen, 67 per cent of the town's built-up area, were devastated. Several factories were badly damaged and the tank gearbox factory was destroyed. When the American bombing survey team investigated this raid after the war, German officials said that this was the most damaging raid on tank production of the war.
223 aircraft - 191 Halifaxes, 16 Lancasters, 16 Mosquitos despatched to Aulnoye. 1 Halifax lost. Bombing was concentrated and much damage was caused to the railway yards.
144 aircraft - 120 Halifaxes, 16 Lancasters, 8 Mosquitos - to attack railway yards at Montzen on the Belgian-German border. The bombing force, particularly the second of the 2 waves, was intercepted by German fighters and 14 Halifaxes and 1 Lancaster were shot down. Only one part of the railway yards was hit by the bombing.The only Lancaster lost was that of Squadron Leader EM Blenkinsopp, a Canadian pilot of No 405 Squadron who was acting as Deputy Master Bomber. Blenkinsopp managed to team up with a Belgian Resistance group and remained with them until captured by the Germans in December 1944. He was taken to Hamburg to work as a forced labourer and later died in Belsen concentration camp 'of heart failure'. He has no known grave.
159 OTU aircraft on a diversionary sweep over the North Sea, 24 Mosquitos on diversion raid to Stuttgart, 11 RCM sorties, 19 Serrate and 6 Intruder patrols, 8 Halifaxes minelaying off Brest and Cherbourg, 44 aircraft on Resistance operations. 1 Serrate Mosquito lost.
Total effort for the night: 961 sorties, 35 aircraft (3.6 per cent) lost.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
29/30 April 1944
68 Lancasters and 5 Mosquitos of No 5 Group returned to the explosives factory at St Médard En Jalles and carried out concentrated bombing on it without loss.
54 Lancasters and 5 Mosquitos of No 5 Group attacked the Michelin tyre factory at Clermont-Ferrand accurately and without loss.
8 Mosquitos to Oberhausen and 4 to Achéres railway yards, 5 RCM sorties, 6 Serrate patrols, 34 Halifaxes and 4 Stirlings minelaying off French ports and in the Frisians. 20 aircraft on Resistance operations, 9 OTU sorties. No aircraft lost.
30 April/1 May 1944
143 aircraft - 114 Halifaxes, 20 Lancasters, 9 Mosquitos - of Nos 6 and 8 Groups despatched to Somain, south-east of Lille. 1 Halifax lost.The initial Oboe marking was inaccurate and the Master Bomber ordered the bombing force to wait. Most of the Halifaxes making up the Main Force either did not hear or ignored his orders and their bombs missed the target. Some damage was caused to the railway yards by the remainder of the force.
128 aircraft - 107 Halifaxes, 13 Lancasters, 8 Mosquitos - of Nos 4 and 8 Groups attacked the railway yards at Achères, near Paris without loss.The Mayor of this small town reports that the bombing completely destroyed the railway yards and that there were no civilian victims, the Mayor attributing this to the fact that the bombers flew at comparatively low level.
116 Lancasters of No 1 Group attacked the largest Luftwaffe bomb and ammunition dump at Maintenon in Northern France. The marking for this raid appears to have been provided by the No 1 Group Marking Flight, based at Binbrook; the Bomber Command records do not mention any other group taking part. The raid was entirely successful and a spectacular series of explosions were seen on the ground. French houses near by were not hit.
28 Mosquitos to Saarbrücken and 5 to Düren, 14 RCM sorties, 9 Serrate and 5 Intruder patrols, 48 Halifaxes minelaying off the French coast, 36 aircraft on Resistance operations, No aircraft lost.
Total effort for the night: 532 sorties, 1 aircraft (0.2 per cent) lost.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
5/6 May 1944
16 Halifaxes and 12 Stirlings minelaying off Channel and Biscay ports, 30 aircraft on Resistance operations, 6 OTU sorties. No losses.
6/7 May 1944
149 aircraft - 77 Halifaxes, 64 Lancasters, 8 Mosquitos - of Nos 4 and 8 Groups attacked railway installations in the Gassicourt suburb of Mantes La Jolie, to the west of Paris. 2 Lancasters and 1 Halifax lost. Bomber Command's records state that 'stores depots and locomotive sheds' were severely damaged but the local report shows that some of the bombing fell outside the railway objective. The western part of the town - including 'old Mantes', the suburb of Gassicourt and the hamlet of Dennemont - were all bombed.
64 Lancasters and 4 Mosquitos of No 5 Group attacked an ammunition dump at Sable Sur Sarthe which was destroyed by 'enormous explosions'. No aircraft lost.
52 Lancasters of No 1 Group attacked an ammunition dump at Aubigne accurately and the entire target was destroyed. 1 aircraft lost. The only Lancaster shot down on this raid, from No 576 Squadron, contained a senior officer who was flying as second pilot. This was Air Commodore R Ivelaw-Chapman, who was commanding a 'base' (usually 3 airfields) in No 1 Group. Ivelaw-Chapman had only just taken up this position after a staff job in which he had had access to details of the coming invasion. There was great anxiety in England that, if he became a prisoner of war, the Germans might hand him over to the Gestapo for questioning. He was taken prisoner but the Germans never realized his importance and he was treated in the normal manner.
28 Mosquitos to Ludwigshafen, 5 to Leverkusen and 2 to Châteaudun, 9 RCM sorties, 9 Serrate and 5 Intruder patrols, 8 Halifaxes and 6 Stirlings minelaying off Biscay ports. 33 aircraft on Resistance operations, 6 OTU sorties. 1 Mosquito lost from the Leverkusen raid.
Total effort for the night: 380 sorties, 5 aircraft (1.3 per cent) lost.
K for Kitty Crew - Winthorpe, 1661 HCU's - stirlingaircraftsoc.raf38group.org/
630 Squadron - East Kirkby
" There is nothing glorious about war with the exception of those who served us so valiantly"
630 Squadron - East Kirkby
" There is nothing glorious about war with the exception of those who served us so valiantly"
-
wayne
- Flying Officer
- Posts: 201
- Joined: Wed Jul 29, 2009 4:44 am
- Location: Auckland New Zealand
- Contact:
Re: 90 squadron
Hello MXD,
I can't help with the other dates you mention, but regarding 10/11 March 1944 75 (NZ) squadron sent 19 aircraft (Stirlings) on "Special Ops".
The drop zones had the names; Trainer 121, Newsagent 5, Mongrel 6, Footman 9, Mongrel 20 ect.
The orb notes the crews only dropped the containers by parachute if they recieved a signal flashed from the ground.
By your next date, 27 April, 75 sqn had converted to Lancasters and were attacking targets in Germany.
Regards,
Wayne.
I can't help with the other dates you mention, but regarding 10/11 March 1944 75 (NZ) squadron sent 19 aircraft (Stirlings) on "Special Ops".
The drop zones had the names; Trainer 121, Newsagent 5, Mongrel 6, Footman 9, Mongrel 20 ect.
The orb notes the crews only dropped the containers by parachute if they recieved a signal flashed from the ground.
By your next date, 27 April, 75 sqn had converted to Lancasters and were attacking targets in Germany.
Regards,
Wayne.