Operation Obviate
29 October 1944 — Tromsø
- Date
- 29 October 1944
- Target
- Tromsø, Norway
- Force dispatched
- 37 aircraft
- Aircraft lost
- 1
Narrative
Operation Obviate on 29 October 1944 was the second of the final Tallboy attacks on the battleship Tirpitz, by then moved south to an anchorage near Tromsø within reach of Scottish bases. Around thirty-six Lancasters of Nos. 9 and 617 Squadrons, each carrying a single 12,000 lb Tallboy, set out to finish the ship that Operation Paravane had crippled six weeks earlier. The weather betrayed them: Tirpitz was visible as the bombers arrived, but cloud rolled across the fjord before they could aim, and not one Tallboy struck home. A near miss did further damage to a propeller shaft and rudder. All but one aircraft returned, the exception force-landing in neutral Sweden. The kill would have to wait three more weeks, until Operation Catechism.
Squadrons: No. 9 Squadron · No. 617 Squadron (Dambusters)
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
51 airmen in this archive died on 29 October 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.
- Sergeant Frederick William Anstey (21)
- Flight Sergeant Francis Frederick Austerberry (31)
- Flight Sergeant William Ronald Barber (20)
- Sergeant Walter James Bird (32)
- Flying Officer Richard Francis Boyce (21)
- Warrant Officer John Joseph Boyle (22)
- Corporal Orran Willard Carey (23)
- Leading Aircraftman George Henry Carroll (25)
- Pilot Officer Bruce Charles Chinnery (23)
- Flying Officer David Campbell Church (20)
- Flight Sergeant James Edward Cook (24)
- Flying Officer Lawrence Furby Croft (23)
- Flight Lieutenant Alan Arthur Cropley (23)
- Warrant Officer Stuart Hugh Davidson (23)
- Flying Officer La Verne John Dick (28)
- Warrant Officer Harold Murray Earle (34)
- Leading Aircraftman James Forrest (28)
- Sergeant Ronald Ellis Fox (20)
- Major Sigmund Fuchs
- Major Carl Frederick Geere (27)
- Flying Officer James David Nicol Gillingham (28)
- Flying Officer William Glendinning (20)
- Leading Aircraftman Theodore Goldsmith (21)
- Flying Officer Alan Lindsay Harrison (29)
See all 51 who died on 29 October →
Source: Wikipedia — Operation Obviate →