La Spezia
13 April 1943 — La Spezia
- Date
- 13 April 1943
- Target
- La Spezia, Italy
Narrative
La Spezia, the principal base of the Italian battle fleet on the Ligurian coast, was attacked by Bomber Command in the spring of 1943. The raids on its naval installations and the city added the chief Italian fleet base to the target list of the campaign against the cities and ports of northern Italy.
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
150 airmen in this archive died on 13 April 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.
- Sergeant Vernon Roderick Ager (19)
- Sergeant Leslie Ronald Akehurst (23)
- Sergeant George Geoffrey Ambler (19)
- Flight Sergeant Ernest Arthur Applegate (20)
- Flight Sergeant James Francis Austin (20)
- Sergeant Albert John Bailey (22)
- Flight Sergeant Edward Henry Bakeman
- Squadron Leader Donald George Elmore Ball (21)
- Flight Lieutenant James Greenwood Banford (27)
- Flying Officer Anthony Edgar Buchanan Barnard (21)
- Sergeant Richard Trathen Barrow (29)
- Sergeant Harry Norman Bateman
- Flying Officer Arthur Douglas Baxter (26)
- Sergeant Frederick Vincent Bayford (33)
- Sergeant Jack Beatson (21)
- Flying Officer Hugh Lawrence Beesley
- Flying Officer John Dillon Bishop (25)
- Warrant Officer Class II William Gerald Blight
- Sergeant Ronald Geoffrey Boustead (20)
- Lieutenant Bown
- Sergeant Robert Brough (29)
- Flight Sergeant Brown
- Leading Aircraftman James Gilliam Buchanan (19)
- Flight Sergeant Phillip Fothergill Burroughs (22)