Saturday, 30 May 2020

An Eventful RAF Raid on Berlin 1943


One eventful sortie to Berlin in February was undertaken by the crew of Flight Lieutenant Thomas Blackham of No.50 Squadron. 

Over western Germany the bomber was subjected to anti aircraft fire that came without searchlights, and was presumably aimed by radar. One shell damaged the elevators, but the bomber was otherwise untouched. A few minutes later a nightfighter that nobody on the Lancaster ever saw opened fire and bullets riddled the rear part of the bomber. The rear turret was put out of action, though the gunner was uninjured, and numerous holes punched through the fuselage. Though nobody on board at the time realised it, the oxygen equipment had also been damaged. Believing the damage to be slight, Blackham chose to push on to Berlin. 

As Blackham began his bombing run he began to feel light-headed and called up the rear gunner to see how he was, but there was no answer. Two other members of the crew also failed to respond to Blackham’s increasingly worried calls. The bombaimer, however, continued to give the calm directions necessary, so Blackham pushed on to drop his bombs. Once the deadly load had gone he asked the flight engineer to investigate and the damage to the oxygen was discovered. The flight engineer effected a hurried repair and soon the unconscious crew members were awake once more. The return trip was uneventful and three nights later the crew went out again, this time to Augsburg.

Photo shows : tailgunner on a Lancaster

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