Bremerhaven
18 September 1944 — Bremerhaven
- Date
- 18 September 1944
- Target
- Bremerhaven, Germany
Narrative
On the night of 18/19 September 1944 a No. 5 Group force attacked Bremerhaven, the port at the mouth of the Weser. Using its low-level marking and a fan-shaped bombing plan, the Group raised a firestorm that destroyed most of the town in a single, devastating attack — one of the Group’s most complete incendiary successes against a German port.
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
76 airmen in this archive died on 18 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.
- Flying Officer John Smith Seaton Aird (30)
- Leading Aircraftman Geoffrey Frank Austen
- Corporal Ronald Arthur Bailey (28)
- Pilot Officer John Douglas Baker (21)
- Flying Officer Alexander Forbes Ballantyne (25)
- Pilot Officer George Samuel Crawford Bell (23)
- Flight Sergeant John Duncan Boyd (27)
- Flight Sergeant George Stanley Breckels (19)
- Flying Officer Edward Cyril Buckland (19)
- Corporal Norman William Cant (21)
- Pilot Officer Joseph Earl Walter Caouette (21)
- Warrant Officer Stanley Herbert Coeshott (23)
- Corporal John Redmond Coleman (26)
- Warrant Officer Edward Douglas Haig Collard (27)
- Pilot Officer Neville James Costin (25)
- Air Mechanic Cramer (38)
- Flight Sergeant David William Coll Ellison (20)
- Flight Sergeant Robert Keith Emrose (21)
- Leading Aircraftman Francis William Farrar (38)
- Flight Sergeant Dennis Fletcher (29)
- Flight Lieutenant Alastair Glasgow Gibb (25)
- Wing Commander Guy Penrose Gibson (26)
- Squadron Leader John Philip Gilliard (24)
- Air Mechanic Hugo Hahn (18)
See all 76 who died on 18 September →
Source: Wikipedia — Bremerhaven →