Operation Wilhelmshaven raid
4 September 1939 — Wilhelmshaven
- Date
- 4 September 1939
- Target
- Wilhelmshaven, Germany
- Force dispatched
- 29 aircraft
- Aircraft lost
- 7
Narrative
The first Bomber Command raid of the Second World War was flown on 4 September 1939, the day after Britain declared war. Some twenty-nine aircraft — Wellingtons of Nos. 9 and 149 Squadrons and Blenheims of Nos. 107, 110 and 139 Squadrons — set out to attack German warships off Wilhelmshaven and Brunsbüttel. Bad weather scattered the force and many crews never found their targets; those that did pressed home their attacks at mast height into heavy fire. The results were dismal: several bombs struck the pocket battleship Admiral Scheer but bounced off or failed to explode, and one Blenheim crashed into the cruiser Emden. Seven aircraft were lost. The raid was a sobering first lesson in the gulf between pre-war bombing theory and the reality of attacking defended targets in daylight.
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
38 airmen in this archive died on 4 September 1939 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 Lieutenant William Frank Barton (26)
- Flight Sergeant Ian Edward Maitland Borley (30)
- Aircraftman 1st Class George Thomas Brocking
- Pupil Pilot James Healy Cavanagh (22)
- Aircraftman 2nd Class Kenneth George Day (20)
- Flying Officer Arnold Victor Dolphin (23)
- Leading Aircraftman Harry Dore (19)
- Flying Officer Henry Lovell Emden
- Aircraftman 1st Class Ralph Evans (20)
- Flying Officer Earl Douglas Godfrey
- Sergeant Raymond Charles Grossey (24)
- Pupil Pilot John Whitford Hadley (19)
- Aircraftman 2nd Class Robert Henderson (25)
- Sergeant Alexander Oliver Heslop (23)
- Sergeant Owen Lobb Dunkirk Howells (24)
- Sergeant Donald Edward Jarvis (24)
- Corporal Harold William Johnson (28)
- Flying Officer Herbert Brian Lightoller (21)
- Aircraftman 1st Class Ernest William Lyon (19)
- Flight Sergeant George Miller (27)
- Pilot Officer William Joseph Murphy (23)
- Sergeant Stanley George McKenna Otty
- Corporal George William Park (23)
- Aircraftman 2nd Class Edward Pateman (19)
See all 38 who died on 4 September →
Source: Wikipedia — Bombing of Wilhelmshaven in World War II →