Picture of the day.

Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules

Yes Bill, the Halifax damage was caused on a night operation.
It was not uncommon, as the mass of bombers flew in a 'stream', rather than in formation, and different Squadrons, or individual aircraft, might be at different altitudes, with the Halifax, and particularly the Stirling, not being capable of reaching the higher level of the Lancaster (normally around 19,000 to 22,000 feet) and, although each Squadron had a 'Time over Target' to aim for, late or early arrivals could be caused by a number of reasons along the way.
It was possibly more common when clusters of 4 lb incendiaries were dropped, the ones shown in the film that Karl posted, as, if a number of these hit an aircraft from above, they could, and sometimes did, bring down the aircraft.
As far as I know, there aren't any figures for the number of aircraft lost this way, but aircraft were undoubtedly lost to these causes.
 

Users who are viewing this thread