Bomber routes to Germany (Aachen)

[Cornelius88]

I'm rather late back to this but many thanks to all who have taken the trouble to investigate. 

@JustinL:  I wasn't aware of the individual raid reports under AIR14 so that is especially useful.  The sketch map included shows a straight line to Aachen but I would expect the course to be a dog-leg.  The dotted line is presumably the line they were expected to take home.  ND389 came down near Beerse in Belgium which would be well south of that line.

A captured German crash report gives the crash location as: 4Km N Beerse,  6/7Km NNW Turnhout - original is 7Km but later hand altered to 6Km

@SMJ:  Thank you for these plots.  According to the loss card they had GEE and H2S on board, plus something else which is indecipherable. The captured German crash report lists a wave form generator.  It is possible the two cooridinates are transposed.  They are hand written in thick pencil in a crowded space.  As said above I would think Beerse in well south of the "home" line.  Would it be possible the stream was split for coming home with one group taking a northerly route and the other south of the approach line?

I'm hoping to visit the RAF Museum at Hendon end of April so I may be able to get a better look at the loss card.  I'll try Kew as well for a copy of the individual raid report as you can't download from Flip Viewer.

[SMJ]

@Cornelius88

Unlikely that the return route was split as this was not part of the briefing report. More likely ND389 was in trouble and attempting to head west to pick up the Dutch/Belgian coastline and the closest bit of Britain. H2S best attribute was being able to pick up the difference in the radar returns caused by  water and land changes.

Keep us informed how you get on - I've got a visit to the IBCC planned later in the year too.

[JustinL]

Regarding the route, a bomb aimer noted the same coordinates at his briefing. See here https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/7201. The sequence indicates a straight run to Aachen from the point off the Dutch coast (52° 00' N, 3° 30' E).

Can we assume that the times given in the Bomber Command Night Ops report are GMT, i.e. an hour behind continental Europe?

Zero hour was 22:45, and the line of approach was '307° from Aiming Point'.

The Operations Record Book (AIR 27/688 - can be downloaded for free) reports that the bombs were dropped after Target Indicators were seen at 22:40:30 or 22:41.

The radio transmission at 22:05 was clearly on the way out. That would have been 23:05 Central European Time, 10 mins before Oberleutnant Schaufer claimed a victory. (See OKL Fighter Claims http://don-caldwell.we.bs/jg26/claims/tonywood.htm). All the times given in the list are CET or CET + 1.

[Cornelius88]

Can we assume that the times given in the Bomber Command Night Ops report are GMT, i.e. an hour behind continental Europe?

  I've always assumed at that stage the UK was on GMT+2hrs for the extra daylight.  CET is normally GMT +1, and I'm not sure the Germans weren't adding an additional hour for daylight saving.  If so, that would put local time the same on each side of the Channel. ( = GMT + 2hrs)

Wiki has an explanation here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Summer_Time  On that basis I suggest times in the UK docs are GMT+2hrs.

We need to be sure how the times were being expressed on each side. 

[SMJ]

@Cornellius88

I agree with your assessment of the time differences. Germany/Holland would be on GST (German Summer Time) which is GMT+2. UK would also be on BDST (British Double Summer Time) also GMT+2. http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=5836 has a thread.

There seemed to be no consistency regarding GMT use for operational instructions, as with everything context is important and local time was often used.

[Cornelius88]

I agree with your assessment of the time differences. Germany/Holland would be on GST (German Summer Time) which is GMT+2. UK would also be on BDST (British Double Summer Time) also GMT+2. http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=5836 has a thread.

There seemed to be no consistency regarding GMT use for operational instructions, as with everything context is important and local time was often used.

A very informative link thanks, especially the list of those periods when English/German time coincided.  Since this incident was on the night of 11/12 April 44, it would be one of them.  The only possible doubt I could have is whether Schnaufer, who was based at St Trond (Sint -Truiden) in Belgium was using German time or Belgian local time. 

Not sure if the Belgians went along with Dutch/German time or stuck to their own.  For practical purposes I think Schnaufer would use German time as would the documents.  It's an interesting speculation as to whether the radio signal which as you say must have been on the way home, indicated he was in trouble.  Beerse is certainly south of where I would have anticipated him to be if he followed the "dotted' route home referred to above. 

We'll never know.