Operation Bielefeld viaduct
14 March 1945 — Bielefeld
- Date
- 14 March 1945
- Target
- Bielefeld, Germany
- Force dispatched
- 15 aircraft
Narrative
First operational use of the 22,000 lb Grand Slam earthquake bomb, dropped by Squadron Leader Calder of 617 Squadron. The viaduct collapsed.
Squadrons: No. 617 Squadron (Dambusters)
Sortie details (which aircraft from which squadron, which crew flew, the outcome) will populate this page once the TNA AIR 27 squadron-diary importer arrives.
The fallen
99 airmen in this archive died on 14 March 1945 or the day that followed. For a raid of this kind these are overwhelmingly the night's losses, though a death-date match is not by itself proof an individual flew this operation.
- Pilot Officer Joseph Jules Rodrigue Arcand (22)
- Flying Officer Leonard Wilson Armstrong (22)
- Flying Officer George Jeffery Austin (22)
- Lieutenant Badenhorst
- Flying Officer Joseph Dixon Ball (20)
- Flying Officer Bruce Ernest Barrow (20)
- Pilot Officer Robert Douglas Albert Becker (20)
- Aircraftman 1st Class Louis Blondeau
- Pilot Officer Howard Bruce Boddy (33)
- Flying Officer Stewart Millen Bonter (26)
- Flying Officer Clive Arkoll Boulton (21)
- Flight Lieutenant Henry John Bray (26)
- Pilot Officer Mark Webster Bredin
- Sergeant George Alexander Cain
- Warrant Officer Class I Stephen Gordon Campbell
- Warrant Officer Richard Power Cantwell (20)
- Flying Officer Edmund Bruce Carleton (22)
- Warrant Officer James Bowes Cossart (21)
- Pilot Officer Raymond Gavin Crisford (29)
- Flying Officer Walter Garfield Cunningham (21)
- Flying Officer George Henry Davis (34)
- Flight Sergeant Eric Dwyer (23)
- Flight Lieutenant Albert Gordon Edwards
- Flying Officer Earle Robert Evans (20)