Mission Notes: L’Isle Adam
( see map at bottom of screen )
Operation Summary:
601 Lancasters were among 1,114 aircraft sent to attack flying bomb stores in three locations. The weather was clear and all raids were successful.
Planes from 115 Squadron:
22 (8 from A flight, 8 from B flight, 6 from C flight)
Planes lost from 115 Squadron:
None
Johnston’s Plane: KO-J (J.ND 805)
Take-off: 11:56 am
Landing: 3:36 pm
Round trip time: 3 hrs 40 mins
Bombing Height: 18,000 ft
DIARY NOTES
Location
RAF Bomber Command, 115 Squadron at Witchford, near Ely
L’Isle Adam - Small town just outside (northeast) of Paris
Halfway - Has completed 15 of his tour’s 30 missions
Daylight - Daylight operation/mission
Rocket bomb - German V2 rocket-propelled missile with 2,200 lb warhead
350 of us on it - Of the 1,114 bombers sent to three flying bomb targets that night, approximately 350 of them went to L’Isle Adam
Halifaxes - Halifax bombers. The Halifax was a four engine RAF bomber with a crew of seven, that could carry a payload of 13,000 lbs (5,900 kgs). Variations of this versatile plane were also used for special operations, reconnaissance, glider towing and paratroop transport.
Turning point - The route to the target was not direct – this indicates one of the turns
Stream - Bomber stream – concentrated groups of airplanes
Bods - Individual bombers
Flak - German anti-aircraft fire
Lawrence, Roy - Canadian bomb aimer in 115 Squadron at Witchford
BA - Bomb aimer
Chops - Planes that were shot down
Rouen - French city 75 kms northeast of Paris near the Atlantic coast
Chutes - Parachutes
Me109 - Messerschmitt 109 – German fighter aircraft
Messerschmitt 109
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August 3, 1944 (Thursday)
Operation # 15 (Halfway) - L’Isle Adam
Eleven 1,000 pound and four 500 pound bombs
Went to L’Isle Adam (I think it is) about 15 miles north of Paris on a daylight do.
It was a rocket bomb supply dump and quite important too I guess as they had 350 of us on it, Halifaxes, and everything. I never saw such a crowd in the air in one spot in my life – we went in to our first turning point with another stream which branched north there (altogether there must have been 700 bods in the stream).
We went in at 17,000 ft after forming up at Luton at 10,000 ft and came back the same height. I went to 18,000 to dodge moderate heavy flak over the target and stayed there most of the way back – got back seventh (Roy Lawrence was my BA and he’s pretty good. He told me after that he liked my crew and would gladly fly with us anytime we wanted).
Saw two chops - one northeast of Rouen (one chute) and one over target (five chutes I believe, though I saw only one), both by flak.
Got a parcel from Mom today with my vest in it (it’s certainly big enough this time!) and a few odd things. Went to the show tonight. Had a bad stomach ache at 18,000 ft (probably too much rich food lately).
(Thirty Me109s were beaten off by our fighter escort. Quote – PHEW!!!! – unquote).
Halifax
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