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wuzak
Captain
Maybe if the Mossies loitered over the flak positions....
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Attack with one squadron at a time and the 50 or so light flak weapons will slaughter them 12 aircraft at at time.
Having been subject to many airfield attacks albeit LW F4's I betcha you would be hardpressed to hit one out of 12 . When coordinated you have 10 or so aircraft cross the airfield at the same time from different directions at lo altitude you are lucky to see more then 1 aircxraftA mass attack can overload enemy air defenses. Attack with one squadron at a time and the 50 or so light flak weapons will slaughter them 12 aircraft at at time.
Like Schweinfurt?A mass attack can overload enemy air defenses. .
There is no record of a whole squadron, ever, being lost in a single raid (unless you believe that "633 Squadron" is a true story.)Attack with one squadron at a time and the 50 or so light flak weapons will slaughter them 12 aircraft at at time
Mosquitoes were renowned for delivering 4000lb (more than the B17's load to the same target) "cookies" to Berlin twice in a night, and even that heavily-defended target was referred to as "the milk run."
Actually, it also comes from his direct words, at a meeting at the RAF Museum in 1977, when he said that the conversation went:-I think that myth stems from the memoirs of Don Bennett, CO (AOC?) of 8 Group, who told an American correspondent that the Mossies she was watching taking off were bound for Berlin with 4,000 lb bomb loads, same as the B-17s which she'd seen earlier.
As the quintessential Numbers Man, Bennett really should have known better.
Actually, it also comes from his direct words, at a meeting at the RAF Museum in 1977, when he said that the conversation went:-
"Where are they going?"
"To Berlin"
"What can those little things carry?"
"A 4,000lb bomb."
But, that's what the B-17 carries, isn't it?"
"Not to Berlin; with the extra fuel load, they can only manage 3,200lb."
"Geez, I'd better not tell the folks back home; they think the B-17's winning the war."
That's just it; someone must have given him those figures, since he was unlikely to have plucked them from thin air. If the reporter had found that he'd lied to her, the repercussions would have been massive.He certainly included the tale in his autobiography. Where he got the figure from, I don't know, I've never found anything to back it up.
"Not to Berlin; with the extra fuel load, they can only manage 3,200lb."
303rd BG (H) Combat Mission No. 119
8 March 1944
Target: V.K.F. Ball Bearing Works, Berlin (Erkner) Germany
Crews Dispatched: 22
Crews Lost: Lt. L.B. McGrath, 10 POWs
Length of Mission: 8 hours, 50 minutes
Bomb Load: 8 x 500 lb Incendiaries (M17) / 12 x 100 G.P. bombs
Bombing Altitude: 26,800 ft
Ammo Fired: 1,895 rounds
That is 5200lb of bombs.
Either way, it's more than 4k, and, despite looking, I've never seen any reports of less than that amount being carried to Berlin by the Forts.
I think that is an either/or, not combined load.
is a combined load
we have some docs that show mosquitoes load 4000 lbs bomb commonly bombing Berlin?
In 1944 the Mosquitoes of 139 was equipped with H2S during that year the squadron visited a long list of the most famous targets in Germany Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Mannheim, Hanover, Duisberg and many others. 4,000-lb "cookies" were dropped on these targets in addition to T.I.'s (target indicators) to guide the main force heavies.
During 20th/21st February to 27th/28th March inclusive, the squadron made a series of 36 consecutive night attacks on Berlin. On 2nd/3rd May, 1945, came the last of the squadron's wartime operations, an attack by 14 Mosquitoes (including Canadian built Mk. XXs) on Kiel.
The squadron was formed at Graveley, Huntingdonshire, on 1st January 1944. It was equipped with Mosquito light bombers and became part of the force of fast, high-flying night raiders- the Light Night Striking Force of No 8 (PFF) Group. The Light Night Striking Force made a name for itself with its regular journeys to Berlin, hitting the German capital again and again with 4,000lb. "cookie" bombs.
Squadron Leader SD Watts, a New Zealander, who later became the squadron's CO, flew the first Mosquito to drop a 4,000lb. bomb on Germany.1 No 692 also gained the distinction of being the first Mosquito squadron to execute a minelaying operation.2 On New Year's Day 1945, the squadron undertook a tunnel-busting operation against the vital German lines of supply to the Ardennes offensive. The attacks were made at heights of 250 feet or less and in such a way that the 4,000lb. bombs were thrown into the mouths of the tunnels. One pilot flew down a cutting at a height of 100 feet and in a width space of only three Mosquito wing spans to throw his bomb into the tunnel mouth. The bomb travelled down the tunnel before exploding, belching out dirt and smoke from the opposite end.