115 Squadron

2/3 October 1942

Wellington Mk III - BK271 - KO-A

T/O Mildenhall 1336 - target Krefeld, Germany.
Crashed at Halderloch near Haldern, Germany.

Source: 115 Squadron Roll of Honour by D. Bruce, W. R. Chorley, J. G. J. de Haan.

The Pathfinders encountered dense haze and their marking was late.
The raid which developed was dispersed and not expected to cause much damage.
Krefeld's rather general report on wartime bombing does not class it as a "Grossangriff" - a major raid;
only 3 streets in the northern part of the town are mentioned as being hit but most of the 41 people recorded
as being killed by raids in 1942 probably died on this night.

188 aircraft - 95 Wellingtons, 39 Halifaxes, 31 Lancasters, 23 Sterlings.
7 aircraft - 3 Halifaxes, 2 Wellingtons, 1 Lancaster, 1 Sterling Lost. 3.7% of the force.

Source: book, The Bomber Command War Diaries: An Operational Reference Book by Chris Everitt,Martin Middlebrook

ORB. 2nd October, 1942.
16 aircraft (6 from "A" Flight & 10 from "B" flight) took off on operations between the hours of 18.45 and 19.00.
13 to attack target KREFELD and 3 on GARDENING OPERATIONS.

All three aircraft on GARDENING successfully located their positions and dropped heir mines in the allotted areas by
T.R. and D.R. fixes from heights ranging between 700 & 900 feet.

10 aircraft of the 13 detailed to attack target KREFELD located the target but visibility was very bad and no results were observed.
Numerous scattered fires were seen, some of them burning in build up areas.
One aircraft (A/C. T.B.K.272 - Captain Sgt. BALDWIN) returned early with turret trouble.
One aircraft (A/C. C.B.J.833 - Sgt. McCREA) dropped its bombs during evasive action and was badly hit by Flak.
After coming down to 100 feet, this aircraft succeeded in returning to base and made a belly landing.
one aircraft failed to return from operations.

The remaining aircraft had returned to base by 00.03 hours.