Mosquito: Menacing the Reich: Combat Action in the Twin-engine Wooden Wonder of World War II (21 page)

From time to time many enterprising COs devised schemes (some cracked-brained) for improving bombing accuracy and results, or for meeting emergency calls. One such scheme which involved 109 Squadron in December 1944, was the Formation Daylight. The idea was for an Oboe equipped aircraft to act as Lead Ship (to borrow the American term) for a small force of Light Night Striker Mosquitoes, each carrying 4,000 pounders to attack small, vital targets in daylight, thus achieving, it was hoped, great precision. For some odd reason, two 582 Squadron Lancaster B.Vls, specially adapted for the leadership role, were at first allocated. The Lanc VI was good for 28,000ft, but its cruising speed was incompatible with the Mosquito IX or XVI. It was to carry an extra Oboe pilot and navigator of 109 Squadron to fly the specialized bombing run. This arrangement was not popular with the Oboe Mossie crews.

One of these was Flight Lieutenant Bob Jordan and Ronnie Plunkett of 105 Squadron at Bourn. Plunkett heard about the scheme on 9 December:

My pilot and myself were asked to operate the Oboe on the operation, which took place on 23 December. [To disrupt enemy reinforcements for the Battle of the Bulge, an attack on the Cologne/Gremberg railway marshalling yards would be made by twenty-seven Lancasters and three Mosquitoes, while fifty-two Mosquitoes were to attack the railyards at Limburg and forty more to Siegburg]. We were to lead the second formation of ten, while Squadron Leader R.A.M. Palmer
DFC
[from 109 Squadron] and his crew, would lead the first formation [in an Oboe-equipped Lancaster borrowed from 582 Squadron]. Having flown a couple of experimental exercises with Squadron Leader Hildyard on a Lancaster for the purpose of familiarization, we were considered to be capable of carrying out this duty. At Graveley (35 Squadron Lancasters) we were detailed to fly on PB272 ‘X for X-Ray’ flown by Flying Officer E.J. Rigby and his usual crew. Bob Jordan and I were to take over the aircraft 60 miles out from the target to operate the Oboe. We were airborne at 10.38 with eleven 1,000lb MC on the racks. Our outward run was normal except that two Lancs touched wings and went down. When we took over, our aircraft came under predicted heavy flak and caught fire, which the crew were able to extinguish. Since we were not on the beam we did not get a release signal and had to jettison the load from 17,000ft. We had a clear view of Squadron Leader Palmer leading the first formation just ahead and his aircraft came under intense AA fire. Smoke billowed from the Lanc and I wondered why he did not bale out there and then because there seemed to be no hope for them. A German fighter then attacked them but they carried on and completed their bombing run. The Lanc then went over on the port side and went down. I cannot think what, other than sheer determination, kept him on the bombing run. He carried out his duty in textbook fashion.
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After this we went down to 6,000ft and Rigby did a good job getting us all back to Manston.

The attacks on Siegburg and Limburg, meanwhile, were, after a change of heart, finally led by Oboe Mosquitoes, not Lancasters, as Flight Lieutenant John Garratt recalls:

After some bright spark suggested using an Oboe Mosquito as Lead Ship, the obvious choice in the first place, my pilot, Flight Lieutenant CM. Rostron
DFC
and I were detailed as Lead Ship crew! The target was a small installation at Siegburg in western Germany. Our bomb load was four 5001b MC (surprisingly!) and our kite, XVI MM123. We were to take twelve Night Light Strikers carrying 4,000 pounders. Most of East Anglia was fog-bound and the heavies were stood down, but we could land on FIDO at Graveley if we had to. We were to rendezvous with the strikers off Orfordness and proceed in a loose gaggle to the Turning-on-Point for the bombing run where the strikers would close in to a tight formation of Vics astern of the lead ship, with bomb bay doors to open 2 minutes before release point. (The bomb doors on the Mosquito were notoriously prone to creep and if not fully open when the ‘Cookie’ went, they went with it!) The striker’s navigators were to release on visual cue from the lead ship, which I thought was the weak link in the scheme.

We took off at 14.55. Just enough time to reach the target in daylight. To my surprise we met the strikers on time and in position as planned and flew across Holland into Germany to the Turning-on-Point where the Oboe ground stations called us in and we began to transmit, creating the beam. The run down the beam went OK. There was little opposition and the striker-pilots’ station keeping, I thought, remarkable, particularly since we had had no formation practice. Our timing was bang-on and the release signal came loud and clear. Immediately after bomb release we broke formation in an orderly manner (bearing in mind it was now getting dark, even at 30-odd thousand feet) and flew back to base singly. All kites returned safely. At debriefing we were told our error off AP was small and the timing spot on. Despite enquiries I never learned whether the operation was considered a success. The intelligence bods never told us much, safe in their ivory towers. However, we never flew another ‘Formation Daylight’.

A successful daylight raid was carried out on 31 December against the Oslo Gestapo Headquarters, in Victoria Terrasse (last bombed by 105 Squadron Mosquitoes on 25 September 1942) by the low-level Mosquito diver specialists of 627 Squadron, as Flying Officer Robert G. ‘Bob’ Boyden
RCAF
recounts:

After nearly a year of constant practice, I was a confident pilot. The fabulous Mosquito had become a part of me. Our Squadron’s accuracy had become so dependable that we grew from a ‘toy airplane’ to a lethal weapon. A quick, accurate placing of our target indicators and bombs would keep the damage centred on the main target and that is why we were chosen for the Oslo raid. We followed the same routine procedure, getting ready for the big one. Our target practices over the Wash increased a little and the aircraft we were slated to fly were checked out. My aircraft was DZ611 and I had flown her on a number of previous trips. We didn’t get all excited about this target beforehand, as the crews knew nothing of what the upper ranks were planning. Our first information about the trip to Oslo was that we were to fly to Peterhead in the northern part of Scotland, which would be our advance base. Peterhead was an American base for B-17s and would cut off at least two hours flight time and give us a good start. The trip would be a long one, 4 to 5 hours, and that can be very tiring if weather conditions require continuous instrument flying or if there are a few unfriendly happenings along the way. Briefing told us that Oslo was the target, not target for tonight, as this would be a daylight raid, which we did not do very often. In fact, I believe I flew only three trips in daylight. It’s quite different, as you feel you stand out like a sore thumb. At this time of our action against the enemy we flew to our destination at 28,000ft and around the target would descend to 3,000ft to look over the area for a predetermined aiming point. We would then dive to 1,000ft or 500ft levels. After we had done our marking, we would climb back to 28,000ft and return to base. This time the target had flak positions and the German Navy was in the Oslo Fjord. Wing Commander Curry was our new CO and would lead the group, which was made up of two flights of six Mosquitoes each. Squadron Leader Peter Mallender would lead the second wave. Flying Officer Joe Willis was my new replacement navigator and we hadn’t done very many trips together. He had been Squadron Leader Ronnie Churcher’s navigator and needed some more trips to wind up his tour of operations.
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Warrant Officer Ralph Fenwick, who had flown a tour on Lancasters, had retired after another 30 flights in his second tour of operations and had left the Squadron.

I left Woodhall Spa with a full load of gasoline and two 1,000lb bombs. The two-hour flight to Peterhead was uneventful but the air was rough along the coastline as we came in to land and to my embarrassment I came in pretty heavily. Why is it that it seems everyone is watching at a time like that and no one ever seems to notice when you ‘grease it in’? The Mosquito wasn’t a nose wheel job so it had to be landed in a three-point position. We were up bright and early the following morning as our target arrival time was 11.00 hours. Much to my surprise Wing Commander Curry wanted us to take off in a V formation, three at a time. I was No.3 on his starboard side, behind and to the right of his wing-tip. I can only guess that he wanted to do this because the Americans were masters of formation flying and our Wing Commander had embellished our skills over a glass of black and tan the previous evening. I had flown formation in our early training days but hadn’t done any for a long time. During the night 2 to 3 inches of snow had fallen leaving a nice light cover on the ground. When our leader opened up his throttles for take-off the resulting blizzard astonished even a good Canadian prairie boy like me. It was complete blackout and strictly instrument flying and as soon as we were airborne I pulled sharply to starboard. We waited for the other nine to take-off  at least we had cleared the runway for them  and form up into the echelon position. We climbed 12,000ft on a heading of 045° NE and started our trip to Oslo.

The North Sea is a long trip and we had been told that the water was so cold we would last only 2 minutes in it. I don’t remember worrying too much about it on such a beautiful day. We relaxed and enjoyed the scene just below us: snow covered mountains and bright sunshine. Willis and I did not talk much, if at all. Each of us absorbed in our own thoughts, thinking of what could happen and Willis no doubt wondering what this bastard was going to do next. We cleared the Norwegian coast, with the Oslo Fjord to our right. The target was ahead of us but not in sight, lost in the haze. Suddenly bursts of flak came up, seemingly one for each aircraft and right on altitude. This was the first time that I had seen, heard and smelled flak all at the same time and we flew through the cloud. Wing Commander Curry called out for us to descend on target, probably with his usual ‘Tally Ho’. He started to dive and we followed his movements. No.2 disappeared from my view and left a gap between the leader and myself. He told No.2 to close in and after a couple of instructions like that I realised I was the one he called No.2. I had already pushed up my throttles at the start of the dive to close the gap. I broke radio silence to tell him I was No.3 and closing fast. Everything happened so quickly. We had of course fooled the flak defences by our diving attack and at last: the target. Bomb doors open, wait for right moment, push the button and hold at 1,000ft. I felt two concussions that closely followed one another. There was no smoke, no dust. I then pushed lower over the city and I saw an open-air skating rink with people skating around, unaware of the chaos and explosions behind them.
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Suddenly No.4 was descending down on top of us. Once again I had to break silence and suddenly what seemed to be a mountain loomed up right in front of us and as we changed our straight and level to a steep climb, flak came off the mountain, then we were up and over. Curry ordered us to break up, every man for himself. I was doing a left-hand turn to head back when I saw a valley to our right. I slid down into the valley and kept at a low level. We passed over the coast and I began the climb back to our operational altitude of 28,000ft. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and no enemy aircraft were in the vicinity. I didn’t know until years later that the second wave did not drop their bombs. All they saw was smoke and dust at the target site and would not risk killing Norwegians.
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Squadron Leader Peter Mallender in D-Dog was briefed to lead the second wave of six aircraft, which were ordered not to bomb unless they could see the target.
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Mallender recalls:

I was instructed to follow our intrepid leader after an interval of 5 minutes. I did and the German naval gunners quickly learned how fast a Mosquito could travel in a dive. All the aircraft in my flight were hit.

Mallender’s navigator was Flight Lieutenant Wallace ‘Johnno’ Gaunt
DFC
,who had been a forester and much later, a glider instructor who had also completed thirty-three operations on Wellingtons on 466 Squadron. Gaunt recounts:

We had been briefed to expect flak from the hillside of the fjord. In fact the
Prinz Eugen
with its flotilla of destroyers was just to starboard of our low-level mid-day attack and they were most unfriendly. We suffered massive damage and I got a cannon shell through my right leg, exposing but not breaking the bone. I later found a small arms bullet in the left-hand breast pocket of my battle dress. It had travelled through the tube of gentian violet and a field dressing.

Mallender continues:

It missed the back of my head and went out through the Perspex top. Another hit removed the whole of the curved part of the port leading edge outboard of the engine leaving the very flat and unstreamlined bare main spar to face the force of wind of a Mosquito in a dive. I did manage to regain control from the violent yaw to port by slapping the starboard Merlin right back. I called to my No.2 to take over and I flew through the smoke and dust still obscuring the target. I cleared flying low over the Royal Palace and poor old D-Dog received another load of shot from a machine-gun sited on the roof, just beside a huge Red Cross. D-Dog still wanted to make circles to port and I thought that perhaps I would have a little more control if I were to jettison the drop tanks. I tried that; the starboard tank dropped away but apparently the wiring to the port drop tank had been severed and that one stayed there. The yaw was exacerbated by this and my right leg was very cramped but pushing as hard as I could we sidled our way home to Scotland after I had jettisoned our bomb load after crossing the Norwegian coast near Stavanger.

‘Johnno’ Gaunt adds:

Peter was doubtful whether the aircraft would make it back to UK so flew north for several minutes debating whether to turn right and head for Sweden, but the engines kept going and we gained height slowly, so went west over the mountains.