Hagen
1 October 1943 — Hagen
- Date
- 1 October 1943
- Target
- Hagen, Germany
- Force dispatched
- 267 aircraft
Narrative
Hagen, on the south-eastern edge of the Ruhr, was attacked on the night of 1/2 October 1943 by 267 aircraft. Despite the modest force the marking and bombing were exceptionally accurate; some 1,400 fires were started and most of the town was destroyed in a textbook concentrated area attack — among the most efficient single raids of the whole campaign in terms of damage done for aircraft sent.
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
146 airmen in this archive died on 1 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.
- Aircraftman 1st Class Anthony Abela
- Flying Officer Francis Victor Anderson (22)
- Sergeant Robert Mitchell Appleton (23)
- Flight Sergeant Arthur Dorrien Archer (23)
- Sergeant George Frederick Austin (30)
- Flying Officer Charles Francis (paddy) Bale (28)
- Flight Lieutenant John Malcolm Barnes (30)
- Sergeant William Trevor Barnes (22)
- Sergeant Ronald Herbert Bassett (40)
- Leading Aircraftman Ernest Geoffrey Beardsmore
- Flying Officer Angus Fyfe Bell
- Sergeant Michael Oliver Douglas Bennett (19)
- Sergeant Robert Bishop
- Pilot Officer John Robert Brannan (31)
- Flying Officer Archibald Ferguson Bremner (24)
- Flight Lieutenant Jack Bruce Burnet (27)
- Flying Officer Norman Lee Burton (29)
- Flying Officer Robert Edward Halliburton Burton
- Flight Sergeant Philip Stuart Camsell (29)
- Corporal Samuel James Carnell (27)
- Flight Sergeant Stanley Albert Carter (20)
- Leading Aircraftman Spencer George Challenger (20)
- Aircraftman 1st Class William Helm Chambers (28)
- Sergeant Dudley Sydney Champion (21)
See all 146 who died on 1 October →
Source: Wikipedia — Battle of the Ruhr →