Stuttgart
11 March 1943 — Stuttgart
- Date
- 11 March 1943
- Target
- Stuttgart, Germany
- Force dispatched
- 314 aircraft
- Aircraft lost
- 11
Narrative
A force of 314 aircraft attacked Stuttgart on this March night, with Pathfinder Mosquitoes and heavies marking the way. The bombing fell mainly on the south-western suburbs of Vaihingen and Kaltental, killing 112 people and injuring many more, but again missing the city centre and the main industry — the valleys doing their familiar work of pulling the attack off the aiming point. The night was also notable for a German innovation: for the first time the defenders lit dummy Pathfinder markers, false target indicators meant to lure the main force into bombing open country. Eleven bombers were lost, 3.5 per cent of the force. The decoy markers were a sign of how quickly the Germans learned to read and counter the Pathfinder technique, and they would plague accuracy over Stuttgart and the Ruhr alike through 1943.
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
231 airmen in this archive died on 11 March 1943 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.
- Flight Sergeant Howard Victor Adams (22)
- Flight Sergeant Andrew Allan
- Sergeant William Andrews
- Pilot Officer Douglas Invicta Arthur
- Sergeant Henry Edwin Ash (21)
- Sergeant Leslie Edward Ashdown (27)
- Flight Sergeant Leslie Barker (26)
- Sergeant Albert Edward Beaven
- Aircraftman 1st Class John Patrick Beesley (22)
- Flying Officer Edwin Harold Beeton
- Sergeant George Edward Benson
- Sergeant Harry Bentley (29)
- Pilot Officer Lionel Hubert Rogers Binning
- Sergeant Henry Stuart Fell Bishell (22)
- Sergeant Benjamin Harvey Bishop (23)
- Sergeant Gordon Ronald Black
- Sergeant William Smith Black (19)
- Flight Sergeant Douglas George Blackmore (22)
- Sergeant William Alfred Blackmore (25)
- Aircraftman 2nd Class Leslie Samuel Boarer
- Flight Sergeant Charles Victor Brown (22)
- Sergeant Anthony Richard Burgess (21)
- Flight Sergeant William Cecil Burr (23)
- Flying Officer Arthur Harold Bywater (26)