Bochum
29 March 1943 — Bochum
- Date
- 29 March 1943
- Target
- Bochum, Germany
- Force dispatched
- 149 aircraft
- Aircraft lost
- 12
Narrative
This was an early, small attack on Bochum during the opening weeks of the Battle of the Ruhr — 149 Wellingtons led by eight Oboe-marking Mosquitoes of No. 109 Squadron. The night was moonless and cloudy, and the marking went wrong: the Oboe Mosquitoes could not keep to their timetable, leaving gaps in the sky-marking that the main force was meant to bomb on, and the attack scattered. Only modest damage was done to Bochum — German records noted 28 people killed and a handful of buildings destroyed. The cost, by contrast, was heavy: twelve Wellingtons failed to return, eight per cent of the force. The raid was a sharp illustration of the limits of Oboe sky-marking — when the marker aircraft slipped off their precise timing, the whole tightly choreographed attack came apart, and the bombers paid the night-fighters’ price for nothing.
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
290 airmen in this archive died on 29 March 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.
- Warrant Officer Class II Hugh Garfield Allen (30)
- Sergeant Denys Andrew (22)
- Sergeant William Gilbert John Aplin (20)
- Flying Officer John Robert Armstrong (25)
- Sergeant Ernest Joseph Aspden (21)
- Warrant Officer Class II Harry Robert Bacon (23)
- Sergeant John Arthur Bailey (23)
- Warrant Officer Class II David Lachlan Bain (27)
- Sergeant George William Frederick Baker (22)
- Sergeant Edward Frank Ball (21)
- Sergeant Frank Alexander Bandeen (21)
- Flight Sergeant John Francis Barnes (20)
- Flight Sergeant Percival Edward Barron (28)
- Sergeant Sidney Albert Bayfield (24)
- Leading Aircraftman Bertram Leonard Bayliss (38)
- Flight Sergeant Jack Bernard Bayliss (27)
- Flight Lieutenant Herbert John Beck
- Leading Aircraftman Thomas Bedford (28)
- Sergeant Charles Armstrong Bell (29)
- Sergeant Kenneth Benjamin (21)
- Leading Aircraftman Frank Lester Beresford (29)
- Corporal Ralph Stanley Bezanson (22)
- Sergeant Edwin Arthur Biggs (33)
- Flight Sergeant Frederick Richard Birtwistle (23)
See all 290 who died on 29 March →
Source: Wikipedia — Battle of the Ruhr →