Calais
25 September 1944 — Calais
- Date
- 25 September 1944
- Target
- Calais, France
Narrative
Calais was the last of the Channel ports to be cleared, its garrison holding out behind strong fortifications. In late September 1944 Bomber Command struck the defences in daylight in support of the Canadian assault, Operation Undergo, helping to force the surrender of the port at the end of the month. As at Boulogne, the use of heavy bombers against an entrenched coastal garrison was effective but afterwards much debated.
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
43 airmen in this archive died on 25 September 1944 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 Robert Joseph Acres (23)
- Pilot Officer Walter Nelson Auld (27)
- Flight Lieutenant Bernard Boe (28)
- Flying Officer Thomas John Bolger (23)
- Flight Lieutenant Frank Bolton (29)
- Flight Lieutenant Gordon Loversidge Bonham (23)
- Flying Officer Norman Jack Bowman (27)
- Flying Officer Leonard James Brennan (22)
- Flight Sergeant Ronald Charles Brookman (26)
- Sergeant Donald Macphail Cameron (25)
- Flying Officer Kenneth Edward Clark (19)
- Flying Officer Colin Edwin Abbott Cock (26)
- Flight Sergeant Paulus Senor Coronel (29)
- Warrant Officer Beresford George Douglas Dillon (20)
- Flying Officer Jack Else (21)
- Leading Aircraftman Idris Morton Evans (25)
- Warrant Officer Raymond Faria (23)
- Pilot Officer Frederick John Alec Frey
- Flight Sergeant Colin Silkirk Henderson (25)
- Flight Lieutenant Frederick George Johnson (25)
- Flying Officer Richard Allan Jones (20)
- Flying Officer Thomas John Lennie (31)
- Flight Sergeant Colin Richard Leslie (21)
- Warrant Officer Alan Robert Lyneham (35)
See all 43 who died on 25 September →
Source: Wikipedia — Operation Undergo →