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Royal Air Force Bomber
Command 60th Anniversary
Campaign Diary
1939
From the very first hours of the War, Bomber Command aircraft were
involved in operations. That said, the early months of the conflict,
known as the 'Phoney War' saw the Command's aircraft dropping leaflets
instead of bombs on German cities and struggling to locate their targets
- especially at night.
September
Within hours of the declaration of war, 28 aircraft (1 Blenheim,
18 Hampdens and 9 Wellingtons) were despatched to locate German warships.
The Blenheim, of No 139 Squadron, was the first RAF aircraft to cross
the German coast in WWII. That night, 10 Whitleys from Nos 51 and
58 Squadrons dropped leaflets over Hamburg, Bremen and The Ruhr. Both
operations were completed without loss. But anti-shipping operations
on the following day told a very different tale. 29 Blenheims and
Wellingtons attempted to bomb German warships in Wilhelmshaven and
Brunsbüttel. 5 Blenheims and 2 Wellingtons were lost and little damage
was done to those vessels attacked. No 107 Squadron lost 4 out of
5 aircraft dispatched. Much of the remainder of the month was spent
on leaflet raids ('Nickelling') and reconnaissance flights but on
the 29th another attempt was made to attack the German Fleet in Heligoland
Bight. This time, 11 Hampdens were sent in broad daylight and the
second formation of 5 aircraft, all from No 144 Squadron, failed to
return.1
October
Anti-shipping patrols continued in the North Sea with many sorties
ending in failure having failed to locate any targets. Armed reconnaissance
flights over Europe were also flown, mainly by Blenheims of No 2 Group.
The loss rate as particularly high as many flights were flown by single
aircraft.
November
There was little change in Bomber Command's routine with very few
bombing raids being carried out.
December
The anti-shipping patrols continued but, at last, some bombing operations
were flown. During a daylight attack by 24 Wellingtons on German warships
moored in Heligoland Bight, the first bombs to fall on German soil
are dropped by an aircraft of No 115 Squadron. The bombs fall accidentally
after the aircraft had suffered a hang-up over the target. Then two
raids in the middle of the month caused the Air Staff to rethink their
strategies. On the 14th, 5 Wellingtons (from 12 despatched) were lost
to German fighters as they orbited over Wilhelmshaven and attempted
to get into a favourable bombing position. At first, commanders would
not accept that the fighters had caused such terrible losses, insisting
that the aircraft had been lost to flak. Then, four days later, during
another raid on Wilhelmshaven, a formation of 22 Wellingtons was picked
up some 70 miles out by a German radar post which alerted a nearby
fighter base. The bombers had been forced into a more open formation
by flak and, with no cloud cover to hide in, the Wellingtons were
easily picked off by the defenders. Twelve aircraft were lost over
the target area.
Until this moment, senior commanders were convinced that a self-defending
bomber formation would always reach its target, but within months
of these terrible losses, the Wellingtons and Hampdens would be switched
to night operations.
1. 'FTR' was the rather curt entry made in squadron's operational
record books against aircraft which did not return from missions.
| HRH King George VI visiting RAF units in France,
November 1939 |
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| No 9 Squadron, Honington, Summer
1939 |
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| No 149 Squadron, Mildenhall, December
1939 |
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| Damage to No 102 Sqn Whitley, 27
November 1939 |
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| Flooding at RAF airfield in France,
October 1939 |
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| German naval base in Heligoland Bight
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