Refuelling of a Boeing B-17E s/n 41-9023 of the 97th Bomb Group (Photo IWM).

and reached the French coast split off the formation and

returned to the base. This was a standard procedure later

applied by all American 8th AF squadrons when one or two

pilots flew as so-called „spares“. In case any of the aircraft

had to return, for example due to the mechanical failure, the

spare assumed his position. If no problems occurred, which

was the case of September 26 mission, the spare flew back

home. The fact that P/O Gentile returned without problems

indicates that the weather conditions shortly after the take

off were not that critical.

Morlaix raid on September 26, 1942 was part of the 8th USAAF Mission No.12. Another two raids were part of it. Actually

92nd BG was supposed to bomb Cherbourg. Eighteen out of

thirty BG B-17 did attack the target. 301st BG was scheduled

to bomb the airport Maupertus near Cherbourg but the mission was cancelled due to the fighter escort recall. The weather

conditions

were

supposedly within

acceptable

limits

but the wind most

probably did not

reach 100 knots as

133rd Squadron reported. It’s unlikely

that at such wind

conditions the 8./

JG 2 fighter would

have scrambled.

nal. The most probable wind value is 40 knots reported by

the 401st Squadron which is considered rather strong wind.

Therefore the weather forecast had not been quite accurate,

it had stated the wind at lower speed. Worth noting though is

a controversy in the wind heading. Basically the weather forecast was correct and would be acceptable even today.

As a fighter escort commander Tony Gaze can be blamed for

rather sloppy briefing commented by Canadians as „rather

sketchy“. By the way the 401st Squadron combat report is

unusually long and one can sense certain frustration reading

between the lines. Another question is why the fighter formation continued flying south even after missing the rendezvous

with the bombers, why the commander reportedly did not receive the information about the bombers recall and why he

did not request the vectoring earlier. Typically it is stated that

he lost the communication with the Flight Control which, con-

The fact that the

Germans were successful in intercepting the American

Spitfires and did not

sustain any losses

due to the weather

conditions points to

the weather conditions German evaluated as operatio-

Armorers of the

92nd BG loading

500lb bombs into

one of their B-17Es

(Photo: IWM).

INFO Eduard - August 2021

eduard

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