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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