Milan
24 October 1942 — Milan
- Date
- 24 October 1942
- Target
- Milan, Italy
- Force dispatched
- 73 aircraft
Narrative
On 24 October 1942 — the eve of the Battle of El Alamein — 73 Lancasters made a rare daylight raid on Milan, dropping some 135 tons of bombs including 30,000 incendiaries on the northern Italian city. It opened the autumn 1942 area-bombing campaign against the cities of Italy’s industrial triangle, intended to shake Italian morale as well as to damage war industry.
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
178 airmen in this archive died on 24 October 1942 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 Frank Adey (21)
- Leading Aircraftman John James Allan (20)
- Sergeant Frederick George Allen (30)
- Sergeant Derek Dundonald Audley (21)
- Flight Sergeant Leonard John Bailey
- Sergeant Leonard Joseph Barnard
- Warrant Officer Class II Wilbert Francis Bauer (22)
- Flight Sergeant Joseph Philippe Bedard (26)
- Aircraftman 2nd Class Edgar Buckler Bedford
- Leading Aircraftman Arthur Bednal (28)
- Sergeant Lionel Horace Bell (23)
- Aircraftman 1st Class Robert Bell
- Sergeant William Bell (24)
- Flying Officer Richard Alanson Bendwig
- Sergeant John Rutledge Bertram (20)
- Sergeant John Beveridge (21)
- Lieutenant Percival Henry Bingham
- Flight Sergeant Norman Birch (28)
- Sergeant Arthur Bird (24)
- Sergeant Reginald Alfred Blake (27)
- Sergeant Douglas Joseph Bowden (22)
- Warrant Officer Oswald Robert Bowerman (26)
- Flight Sergeant Joseph Paul Albert Boyer (22)
- Sergeant Brian John Waldron Boyle (28)