Frankfurt
4 October 1943 — Frankfurt
- Date
- 4 October 1943
- Target
- Frankfurt, Germany
- Force dispatched
- 402 aircraft
Narrative
A force of 402 bombers — 162 Lancasters, 170 Halifaxes and 70 Stirlings, with Pathfinder Mosquitoes marking and even three stray USAAF Fortresses joining in — attacked Frankfurt am Main on this October night. The marking and concentration were good, and the bombing fell heavily on the eastern half of the city and the dock area along the Main, doing severe damage and killing several hundred people. It was one of the more successful attacks on Frankfurt to that point, a city whose medieval centre and river port made it both an important target and a vulnerable one. Frankfurt would suffer far worse the following March, when a series of raids destroyed its old town, but this autumn 1943 attack already showed how the maturing Pathfinder technique could bring real destruction to a target deep inside western Germany.
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
172 airmen in this archive died on 4 October 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.
- Sergeant Walter Adamson
- Pilot Officer Felix Norman Alexander (29)
- Corporal George Langstaff Alexander (21)
- Flying Officer John Allan
- Sergeant John Alexander Baker
- Leading Aircraftman Harold Edward William Ball (30)
- Sergeant George Henry Beach (23)
- Leading Aircraftman William Edward Biltcliffe (25)
- Flight Sergeant Aldo Bortolussi
- Sergeant William James Boyce (22)
- Sergeant Gordon John Percy Boyd (19)
- Flying Officer James Albert Brett (21)
- Flight Sergeant George William Bridgewater (22)
- Sergeant William Frederick Bristow (22)
- Flight Sergeant Roy Edward Brook (23)
- Flight Lieutenant Kenneth Brown
- Flight Lieutenant John Nigel Grey Bruce
- Sergeant James Whamond Cameron (28)
- Sergeant Alfred Lawrence Capon (20)
- Leading Aircraftman Sidney Arthur Carter
- Warrant Officer Class I Ellwin Clair Champion (20)
- Sergeant George Ernest Chapman (23)
- Flying Officer Peter Anthony Chappell (23)
- Leading Aircraftman John Chrystal (20)
See all 172 who died on 4 October →
Source: Wikipedia — Bombing of Frankfurt am Main in World War II →