Gelsenkirchen
10 March 1945 — Gelsenkirchen
- Date
- 10 March 1945
- Target
- Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Narrative
By the spring of 1945 the Scholven-Buer synthetic-oil plant at Gelsenkirchen was a priority oil target, and Bomber Command returned to it on 10 March 1945. Such attacks were the cutting edge of the oil offensive that, more than any other single effort, starved the German army and air force of fuel in the closing months of the war and brought much of their movement to a halt.
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 10 March 1945 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.
- Pilot Officer Hubert George Bishop
- Sergeant William James Carlyle (24)
- Flying Officer Thomas Donovan Copeland (25)
- Corporal Albert Leslie Davenport
- Wing Commander Ralph Frederick Davenport (32)
- Lieutenant Davies (26)
- Second Lieutenant Dell (25)
- Flying Officer Edmund Leonard Easton (25)
- Flying Officer Donald Arthur Fawthrop (22)
- Flight Lieutenant Raymond John Fern
- Leading Aircraftman Douglas Milne Finley (20)
- Lieutenant Fourie
- Pilot Officer Charles William Fraser (24)
- Flying Officer Donal Kevin Joseph Hector (24)
- Flight Sergeant Patrick Sylvester Jennings (22)
- Flight Sergeant Owain Gwynfor Jones (25)
- Flying Officer Joe Richard Latremouille (22)
- Pilot Officer Clarence Reginald Lecky (28)
- Warrant Officer Class I Leviton (20)
- Flight Lieutenant Ernest William Martin
- Warrant Officer Class I Mayhew (21)
- Warrant Officer John Norton Mossop (30)
- Lieutenant Nel (21)
- Second Lieutenant Odendaal (24)
See all 38 who died on 10 March →
Source: 75(NZ) Squadron — Attack against Gelsenkirchen-Buer, Scholven oil refinery →