Hamburg

Raid target — Germany

22 raids in this database struck Hamburg — 5,654 aircraft sorties dispatched in total, of which 156 failed to return.

DateOperationCommandDispatchedLost
14 Jan 1942 Hamburg raid Bomber Command 95 2
15 Jan 1942 Hamburg raid Bomber Command 96 1
8 Apr 1942 Hamburg raid Bomber Command 272 1
17 Apr 1942 Hamburg raid Bomber Command 173 1
3 May 1942 Hamburg raid Bomber Command 81 0
26 Jul 1942 Hamburg raid Bomber Command 403 29
28 Jul 1942 Hamburg raid Bomber Command 256 10
9 Nov 1942 Hamburg raid Bomber Command 213 0
30 Jan 1943 Hamburg raid Bomber Command None None
3 Feb 1943 Hamburg raid Bomber Command 263 16
26 Jun 1943 Hamburg raid Bomber Command 24 None
24 Jul 1943 Operation Gomorrah Bomber Command 791 12
25 Jul 1943 Hamburg raid Bomber Command 17 0
27 Jul 1943 Hamburg raid Bomber Command 787 17
28 Jul 1943 Hamburg raid Bomber Command 17 None
29 Jul 1943 Hamburg raid Bomber Command 777 28
2 Aug 1943 Hamburg raid Bomber Command 740 30
22 Aug 1943 Hamburg raid Bomber Command 47 0
11 Mar 1944 Hamburg raid Bomber Command 20 None
6 Sep 1944 Hamburg raid Bomber Command 71 None
22 Oct 1944 Hamburg raid Bomber Command 71 None
8 Apr 1945 Hamburg raid Bomber Command 440 9

Photographs

Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1939-1941. Aircrews of No. 75 (New Zealand) Squadron RAF walking past a Vickers Wellington Mark I at Feltwell, Norfolk, before a night raid to Hamburg, Germany.

ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer, Tovey P H F (Mr) / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vickers_Wellington_-_Feltwell_-_Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1939-1941._CH2671.jpgView source & full licence →

The Royal Air Force 1939 - 1945- the Strategic Air Offensive An Avro Lancaster of No 1 Group, Bomber Command, silhouetted against flares, smoke and explosions during the attack on Hamburg, Germany, by aircraft of Nos 1, 5 and 8 Groups on the night of 30/31 January 1943. This raid was the first occasion on which H2S centimetric radar was used by the Pathfinder aircraft to navigate the force to the target.

ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer, No 106 Squadron RAF / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Royal_Air_Force_1939_-_1945-_the_Strategic_Air_Offensive_C3371.jpgView source & full licence →

Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. Oblique aerial view of ruined residential and commercial buildings south of the Eilbektal Park (seen at upper right) in the Eilbek district of Hamburg, Germany. These were among the 16,000 multi-storeyed apartment buildings destroyed by the firestorm which developed during the raid by Bomber Command on the night of 27/28 July 1943 (Operation GOMORRAH). The road running diagonally from upper left to lower right is Eilbeker Weg, crossed by Rückertstraße.

ⓘ licence & creditDowd J (Fg Off), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945._CL3400.jpgView source & full licence →

Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. Oblique aerial view of ruined residential and commercial buildings south of the Eilbektal Park (seen at upper right) in the Eilbek district of Hamburg, Germany. These were among the 16,000 multi-storeyed apartment buildings destroyed by the firestorm which developed during the raid by Bomber Command on the night of 27/28 July 1943 (Operation GOMORRAH). The road running diagonally from upper left to lower right is Eilbeker Weg, crossed by Rückertstraße.

ⓘ licence & creditDowd J (Fg Off), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945._CL3400_(cropped).jpgView source & full licence →

Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. The Duke of Kent inspecting bomber pilots and crews at Mildenhall, Suffolk, following a costly raid on Hamburg, Germany, in which 16 Vickers Wellingtons and 9 Short Stirlings were lost from No. 3 Group.

ⓘ licence & creditHensser H (F/O), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945._CH6386.jpgView source & full licence →

Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1939-1941. Vickers Wellington Mark IC, R1593 ‘OJ-N’, of No 149 Squadron RAF, undergoes routine servicing in a dispersal at Mildenhall, Suffolk, while being loaded with 250-lb GP bombs in readiness for the forthcoming night raid on Hamburg, Germany.

ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer, Tovey P H F (Mr) / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1939-1941._CH2705.jpgView source & full licence →

Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1939-1941. A bomb load, consisting of a 500-lb MC, and 250-lb GP bombs, being delivered by tractor to a Vickers Wellington Mark IC of No. 149 Squadron RAF at a dispersal at Mildenhall, Suffolk, for a raid on Hamburg, Germany.

ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer, Tovey P H F (Mr) / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1939-1941._CH2676.jpgView source & full licence →

Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. Annotated vertical photograph taken over Hamburg, Germany by a specially-equipped aircraft to show the feasibility of damage plotting during a night raid. This exposure, taken without the use of a photoflash, shows areas of the city identified by the pattern of fires resulting from the bombing. The locations, all in the Wandsbek district are: ‘A’ - Horner Weg; ‘B’ - Washingtonallee; ‘C’ - Kamp Jenfelder; ‘D’ - the north end of Stengelestrasse; ‘E’ - fires burning among barracks; and ‘F’ - fires in the grandstand of the racecourse.

ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hamburg-Wandsbek,_Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945_C3832.jpgView source & full licence →

Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. Oblique aerial view of severely damaged docks in the Steinwerder district of Hamburg, looking south-west from over the Rive Elbe. The whole area has been devastated as a result of repeated attacks by aircraft of Bomber Command and the USAAF.

ⓘ licence & creditDowd J (Fg Off), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hamburg-Steinwerder,_Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945_CL3395.jpgView source & full licence →

Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. Annotated vertical aerial taken during the night raid on Hamburg of 24/25 July 1943. Sticks of incendiaries are burning in the Altona and Dock districts (top, ‘4’). A photoflash bomb at lower left has illuminated the camouflaged Binnen Alster (‘2’), and the Aussen Alster (‘1’) on which a flak position has been built (‘3’).

ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hamburg,_Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945_C3677.jpgView source & full licence →

Aircrew and Wellington bombers of No. 149 Squadron RAF at Mildenhall, Suffolk, before a night raid over Germany, 10 May 1941. An aircrew of No. 149 Squadron RAF gather by the nose of their Vickers Wellington Mark IC, lined up with other aircraft of the Squadron at Mildenhall, Suffolk, before a night raid to Hamburg, Germany.

ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer, Tovey P H F (Mr) / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aircrew_and_Wellington_bombers_of_No._149_Squadron_RAF_at_Mildenhall,_Suffolk,_before_a_night_raid_over_Germany,_10_May_1941._CH2674.jpgView source & full licence →

Air To Ground Photograph of Hamburg view from south along the street Worthdamm, identifiable water areas are on the left edge the Reiherstieg, in the center the (now filled) Stichkanal and on the right edge the Steinwerder Hafen

ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Air_To_Ground_Photograph_of_Hamburg_CL2500.jpgView source & full licence →

Aircrews of No. 75 (New Zealand) Squadron RAF walking past a Vickers Wellington Mark I at RAF Feltwell, Norfolk, UK, before a night raid to Hamburg, Germany.

ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer : Tovey P H F (Mr) / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:75_Squadron_Wellington_aircrews_at_RAF_Feltwell_WWII_IWM_CH_2671.jpgView source & full licence →

Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. WAAF and other ground crew members wave off Pilot Officer W H Eager RCAF and his crew in Avro Lancaster B Mark I, W4236 ‘QR-K’, of No. 61 Squadron RAF, as they begin their take-off run from Syerston, Nottinghamshire, for a night raid on Hamburg, Germany. This was W4236’s 74th mission, from which it returned safely: it was lost, however, during a raid on Mannheim on 10 August 1943.

ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945._CH10675.jpgView source & full licence →

Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. The crew of an Avro Lancaster B Mark I of No. 61 Squadron RAF walk towards their aircraft at Syerston, Nottinghamshire, before taking off for a raid on Hamburg, Germany.

ⓘ licence & creditBellamy W (F/O), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945._CH10714.jpgView source & full licence →

“Chug-A-Lug IV” B-17G-45-BO s/n 42-97330 535th BS, 381st BG, 8th AF Lost on the November 6,1944 mission to Hamburg,Germany. MACR 10154 Photo taken at: RAF Ridgewell (USAAF Station 167), England

ⓘ licence & creditUnited States Army Air Forces / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:535th_Bombardment_Squadron_-_B-17_Flying_Fortress.jpgView source & full licence →

AWM caption : RAF Station Bottesford, Leicestershire, England. 1943-03-04. Members of the crew of a Lancaster bomber of No. 467 Squadron RAAF reporting to the Intelligence Officer on their return from a raid on Hamburg. “We saw 4,000 lb “cookies” bursting fifty miles before we reached the target”, this Lancaster crew told the Intelligence Officer. Left to right: * Sergeant (Sgt) Lockwood, RAF, Navigator * Flight Lieutenant (Flt Lt) Millward, Intelligence Officer * Sgt Pritchard, RAF, Rear Gunner * Sgt Davis, RAF, Engineer * 400415 Flying Officer G. H. Joseph, Wireless Operator * 406641 Flt Lt J. M. Desmond, Pilot * Sgt Cribbin, RAF, Bomb Aimer * Pilot Officer Cazaly, RAF, Mid Upper Gunner

ⓘ licence & creditnot stated / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:467_Squadron_RAAF_Lancaster_aircrew_debriefing_Bottesford_Mar_1943_AWM_SUK11035.jpgView source & full licence →