Strana 19
Book) lists both crews flying in the JP186. One
aircraft did not reach the target and was lost.
It was a Halifax II JP107, manned by captain
W/O EG Gittings. The remaining five aircraft
„attacked“ from a height of 15,000 feet. The
three crews dropped their markers, but did not
hit the target and illuminated the area about
5 miles north. The main marker crew was not
able to identify the aiming point during the
three flights over the target, even though the
northern end of the island was identified.
Participating machines and crews: JP110
(W/O WTH Fleckney), JP109 (W/O CM Hall),
JP241 (P/O TW Parker), JP183 (F/O IH Bruce),
JP288 (F/S TE Sparrow), returnees JP186 (F/S
JE O´Brien) and JP186 (W/O TE Scotland), and
missing JP107 “S” (W/O EG Gittings).
Handley Page Halifax II JP107 „S“ was
dispatched from the base Foggia No.1 / Celone
at 20:35 and headed for Budapest. Above the
target, the machine got into the headlights.
And that made the work of night fighters easier.
The exact aiming pilot was probably Oblt. Josef
Kraft from 7./NJG 6. The hit Halifax fell to the
ground 15 km north of the target, at 32 Arany
János St. Tab. All six crew members, namely
pilot P/O Eric George Gittings, navigator F/Sgt.
Kenneth John Skinner, bombaimer P/O Gordon
M. Williams, gunners F/Sgt. Samuel Cater, Sgt.
Alec Shaw and F/Sgt. Albert SH Brown died and
are buried in the military cemetery in Budapest.
The seventh 205th Group RAF aircraft
deployed after the action was the Wellington
LP212 „N“, belonging to the 150th Squadron.
After the attack of night fighters, the crew of
Sgt. JE Richardson registered the shot in the
hydraulic system. After a successful return to
base, they had to make an emergency landing
and the plane was scrapped.
Fourteen Liberators of the 178th Squadron
also performed between 20:29 and 03:25.
a mission on a refinery in Budapest, where
they dropped bombs from 12,200 to 15,000 feet
between 00:02 and 00:07. One of the aircraft
marked EV822 with crew of Lt. Hosken had to
return prematurely due to a failure of one of
the engines, which manifested itself an hour
and a half after takeoff at 22:20. The crew
dropped all 12 500 lb. bombs and at 23:37
landed at the base.
Only five aircraft could observe the results
of their attack after the raid. Explosions were
observed, which caused large fires.
The participating aircraft and crews for the
178th Squadron were as follows:
F/O P.J. Bootham na stroji EW266 „L“,
Lt. J.W. VanDerMerwe (EV974 „D“), P/O J.P.
Blackenberg (KG828 „F“), Lt. N.E. Hayman
(EV961 „C“), Sgt. A.D. Nicholas (EV906 „K“),
F/Lt. D.A. Eardley (EW233 „H“), Lt. G. Rosenthal
A highly feared adversary of all Allied bombers was the German flak (Fliegerabwehrkanone), which thickened
the airspace over larger agglomerations and industrial areas to such an extent that it was almost impossible
to escape from its precision fire without damage.
Oblt. Josef Kraft was born in Vienna. During the Second
World War, he achieved 56 victories, for which he was
awarded the Knight‘s Cross with oak branches on April
17, 1945. Flew at II./ NJG 4, II./ NJG 5, and NJG 6.
HISTORY
The Liberator EW233 „H“ was used by several crews within 178th Squadron RAF. The photo shows the crew
of P/O Raw. [Foto: via J. Ansel]
INFO Eduard
19
October 2024