| 207 SQUADRON | RAID ASSESSMENT COMMITTEE MINUTES | 22/6/44 | ||
| TARGET: | WESSELING. | |||
| G/CAPT CHESHIRE: | The
target was the Synthetic Oil works at Wesseling. The marking was by 54 Base and the attack was to be in three waves, 207 Squadron being in the second wave. The earliest time of bombing was to be 0140 hrs unless otherwise ordered by the Controller. After leaving target aircraft were to lose height by 500 feet a minute to 4000 feet to the Coast. The casualties were very high, 207 losing 5 and East Kirkby 10 and the total from the three Bases on this target 35. The other attack by Group on Gelsenkirchen by approximately the same number of aircraft resulted in 8 losses. The Station Commander then asked S/Ldr Pattinson, who took part in the raid, to give his views. |
|||
| S/LDR PATTINSON | stated that combats started at Coast and continued to the target and back to the coast. One peculiar phenomenon was a type of rocket that came up through the cloud, burst into flames, flew on a straight course and then descended to the cloud followed by a large explosion. He himself arrived at target a bit early and after bombing lost height and flew just above cloud tops (4,000 feet), occasionally diving into cloud. There was more fighter activity after leaving, the target and a number of aircraft were seen shot down from above his own height. The rocket phenomenona were again observed. | |||
| NAVIGATION: | F/Lt. Parker stated that most aircraft were slightly early to the target and were slightly North of track on way back to coast. There was a certain amount of straggle. | |||
| PETROL: | ||||
| Average consumption | 50.75. | |||
| Highest. | 58.1 | |||
| Lowest. | 44.6. | |||
| MET: | Contrary to expectation there was a sheet of cloud over target. Winds veered slightly. | |||
| SIGNALS: | Stated that there was a great deal of interference and matters were not helped by the fact that the Controller did not send call sign every minute. The Deputy was off frequency. | |||