- Preparations continued
throughout the day for a take-off at
22:15hrs for a raid on the Gnome-
Rhone aircraft engine factory at
Gennevilliers, near Paris.
A return to ‘Gardening’ was made
on the 21st, to the port of Kiel on
the western Baltic coast. Wilkinson
recorded: “Only 70 aircraft from
our group on mining. We laid ours
in entrance to Kiel from 15,000ft.
3 aircraft missing. We took Sub-Lt
Wood RNVR with us.” Taking
specialist observers on raids was a
frequent occurrence for Bomber
Command crews.
Heavily fortified gun batteries
on the northern French coast were
obvious targets to knock out. On
the last day of May, 106 Squadron
was detailed to hit the emplacements
at Maisy, but the Lancasters were
recalled. The weather was dreadful
that night – the bombers took off in
a violent thunderstorm, which was
reported to have persisted for the
whole route.
At 02:45 on D-Day itself, June 6,
106 Squadron sent 16 Lancasters to
the coastal guns near the village of
St Pierre du Mont. The battery was
on the top of the cliffs at Pointe du
Hoc and consisted of six reinforced
concrete casemates housing 155mm
guns.
The guns were located between
the American ‘Utah’ and ‘Omaha’
beaches. It was vital the guns be put
out of action before the landing craft
and troops came ashore at 06:30.
Bombing took place between 04:50
and 05:00; by that time, it was nearly
light and the first beach assault
was imminent. The 106 Squadron
operations record book reported:
‘As our crews returned across the
Channel, they saw a vast fleet of
miscellaneous craft, from battleships
to barges, heading towards the coast
of Normandy.’
By D-Day, Clement and his crew
had finished a fourth month on 106
Squadron. They had successfully
completed 21 ‘ops’. Many of their
squadron colleagues and friends had
been killed – lost in battle without
leaving any certain knowledge of
what had become of them.
The forthcoming fair weather
promised by the European summer
and the demands of the invasion
forces would keep 106 Squadron
fully occupied. The Clement crew
were ‘Old Lags’, as Air Chief Marshal
‘Bomber’ Harris called his time-
served men.
Railway yards, choke points for
German reinforcements trying to
flood into Normandy, became regular
objectives; 106 raided Rennes,
Orleans and Poitiers to this end.
At Orleans, on the 10th, the crew
flew north up the railway line and
dropped bombs from only 1,000ft.
Post-raid reconnaissance photographs
showed that the track had been
cratered and that goods trains had
been damaged.
FLYING-BOMBS
Bomber Command mounted more
than 1,000 sorties on the night of
June 27, including V-1 flying-bomb
sites and railway yards. Two trips
were detailed to 106 Squadron to hit
the ‘Doodlebug’ assembly plant at St
Leu d’Esserent, southeast of Beauvais
on July 4 and 7.
On the first of these, two 106
Lancasters were lost and one was
severely damaged by a night-fighter.
With typical understatement,
Wilkinson noted in his diary: “Very
sticky trip.”
Luftwaffe night-fighters
concentrated on the bombers on
the night of the 7th. In total, 29
Lancasters and two Mosquitos were
lost, nearly 14% of the attacking
force.
Five Lancasters from 106 Squadron
failed to return. One of those aircraft
was Mk.III JB641, X-for-X-ray, flown
by Flt Lt Fred Clement. Having
dropped their bombs on target, they
had set out on the homeward leg.
Alas, they would not make it home
to Metheringham. The Lancaster
was shot down a few miles north of
Neufchatel-en-Bray. The seven men
who had become a crew at Swinderby
in early 1944 were all killed.
Their loss left a gap in families that
could never be filled. Their loss left
a gap in 106 Squadron that, in the
words of the Squadron Commander,
would not be easily filled. Their
loss to the RAF was a gap that the
wartime training machine filled
almost immediately. The war
continued without them.
Left
Fg Off Norman Gautschi’s
logbook for May 9-31,
- COURTESY GAUTSCHI
FAMILY
Above
Trip 12, April 22, 1944: the
pilot’s chart showing the
tortuous route in and out
to Brunswick, avoiding
fl ak concentrations.
Left
A newspaper cutting
detailing the Essen raid of
March 26, 1944.
COURTESY JACK WILKINSON
February 2018 FLYPAST 47
