Gelsenkirchen
25 June 1943 — Gelsenkirchen
- Date
- 25 June 1943
- Target
- Gelsenkirchen, Germany
- Force dispatched
- 473 aircraft
Narrative
Gelsenkirchen, with its Nordstern synthetic-oil plant, was attacked on the night of 25/26 June 1943 by around 473 aircraft. The raid went badly: several of the Oboe Mosquitoes whose markers the main force relied on suffered equipment failures, the marking was sparse and inaccurate, and much of the bombing was scattered across the Ruhr for relatively little result — a reminder of how completely the new precision now depended on a handful of marker aircraft.
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
401 airmen in this archive died on 25 June 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 John Stephen Robinson Ablett
- Warrant Officer George Robert Acheson (23)
- Pilot Officer George Nelson Acton (31)
- Sergeant Kenneth Cyril Christopher Adams (30)
- Pilot Officer Joseph Horace Addison
- Pilot Officer David Aiken
- Warrant Officer Andrew Basil Reginald Airy (26)
- Warrant Officer John Anderson (34)
- Flight Sergeant Wilfred Andrews (27)
- Sergeant Douglas Armitage (19)
- Sergeant William George Arthur (23)
- Sergeant Frederick Charles Ashby (20)
- Sergeant Maurice Robert Aston (21)
- Sergeant Thomas Martin Atkinson
- Sergeant James Bailey
- Sergeant Edward Gordon Baker (26)
- Sergeant Thomas Ball (21)
- Flight Sergeant Ivan William Banks (20)
- Sergeant Stanley Frank Barker (21)
- Sergeant Arnold Thomas Barlow
- Sergeant Ronald Alfred Barlow (21)
- Sergeant Robin Harold Barnes (29)
- Flight Sergeant Sidney James Barnes (23)
- Wing Commander Robert George (bob) Barrell (23)
See all 401 who died on 25 June →
Source: Wikipedia — Battle of the Ruhr →