Essen

3 April 1943 — Essen

Date
3 April 1943
Target
Essen, Germany
Force dispatched
348 aircraft
Aircraft lost
21

Narrative

By April the heavy squadrons were carrying more of the weight at Essen, and this raid was flown chiefly by Lancasters and Halifaxes — 348 aircraft in all, with a small Mosquito element. The Pathfinders used a mix of ground and sky markers, which caused some crews to bomb confusedly between the two, yet the attack produced the best bombing photographs of Essen yet taken: more than 600 buildings destroyed and over 500 badly damaged, with around 120 people killed on the ground. The Krupp works were hit again. The defenders made the attackers pay heavily — twenty-one bombers failed to return, six per cent of the force, a loss rate that underlined how dangerous the Ruhr approaches had become as the German night-fighter arm thickened along the bombers’ route. The night confirmed the pattern of the campaign: Oboe-led marking could now wreck even Essen, but only at a rising price in crews.

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

294 airmen in this archive died on 3 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.

See all 294 who died on 3 April →

Source: Wikipedia — Battle of the Ruhr →