Cologne
5 April 1942 — Cologne
- Date
- 5 April 1942
- Target
- Cologne, Germany
- Force dispatched
- 263 aircraft
- Aircraft lost
- 5
Narrative
By April the forces sent against Cologne were growing, and 263 aircraft — a mixed stream of Wellingtons, Hampdens, Stirlings and the unhappy Manchesters — were dispatched on this night. The promise of the March Gee success was not repeated: bombing photographs afterwards showed loads falling as much as five miles from the aiming point, the marking and concentration that would later devastate the city still some way off. Five aircraft failed to return. The raid was typical of a transitional spring in which Bomber Command had the navigation aid and the rising numbers but had not yet learned to weld them into the tight, accurate attacks of 1943. Cologne, repeatedly visited through these months, served almost as a proving ground where the tactics of the bomber offensive were worked out raid by raid.
Order of battle
1 aircraft. Each crew links to the men who flew it; each airman to their own record.
| Aircraft | Type | Squadron | Pilot | Crew | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| X9764 NZ |
Vickers Wellington | No. 304 Squadron ((Silesian) Polish) | Alfred Osadziński | 6 aircrew → | Failed to return |
The fallen
91 airmen in this archive died on 5 April 1942 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.
- Flying Officer Arthur William Abbott
- Flight Sergeant Ernest Arthur Allen
- Flying Officer Ludwik Karol Assman (26)
- Leading Aircraftman James Henry Attwood (25)
- Sergeant Zdzisław Babraj (22)
- Sergeant Albert Edward Bloor (26)
- Pilot Officer Paul Rigby Sinclair Brooke (29)
- Pilot Officer Douglas Macgillvary Brown (21)
- Sergeant Robert William Burdon Brown (22)
- Sergeant Allan John Browne (25)
- Pilot Officer William Finlay Budge (24)
- Flying Officer Garth Elliot Caswell (24)
- Sergeant Philip John Coleman (21)
- Sergeant Edward Frank Collins (27)
- Aircraftman 2nd Class James Lawton Cunningham (38)
- Sergeant Alexander Thomas Edward Daniells (25)
- Sergeant Frank Arthur Dann (21)
- Warrant Officer Class II Samuel Douglas Dean
- Sergeant William Cecil Friscourt Dodd (26)
- Sergeant Ronald Harry Emery
- Flying Officer John Ward Evatt (22)
- Leading Aircraftman William Arthur Fisher (27)
- Pilot Officer James Donald Alexander Foley (25)
- Flying Officer Donald Geffene (21)