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In the early hours of 26th June 1942, six airmen from 102 Squadron
return from Bremen in their Halifax, Q for Queenie, having taken
part in the third Thousand Bomber Raid. These airmen formed a truly
international crew, each one having an interesting back story that
had led to their being together, including Len Starbuck, the
Wireless Operator and Air Gunner on his 26th operation who is close
to the end of his tour. As operations continue, events on the
squadron are recounted such as the inevitable toll of losses.
German defences develop from uncoordinated concentrations around
major towns and cities into a coherent barrier known as the
Kammhuber Line. More new crewmen arrive on the squadron as the year
progresses and with the arrival of winter, the ageing Whitley is
phased out, replaced by the Halifax. As the squadron became
familiar with the Halifax, they exchanged six of their new aircraft
for six from 35 Squadron who were about to mount an attack on the
Tirpitz in a fjord near Drontheim. These aircraft were equipped
with the revolutionary new navigational aid known as GEE, which was
of no use to crews flying to Norway, but suddenly gave 102 Squadron
an accurate blind-bombing capability they had not previously
enjoyed. On 25 May 1942, American air gunner Jack Fernie arrived on
the squadron. Five days later he was on his first operation, caught
up in the demand for maximum effort to support the first of Arthur
Harris' Thousand Bomber Raids to Cologne who believed that Bomber
Command could win the war from the air. Two days later, 102
Squadron again provided maximum effort for another massed attack on
Essen, followed three weeks later by the third and final Thousand
Bomber Raid to Bremen. Beginning the journey home at the tail end
of the bomber stream, a night fighter was guided to an intercept
position by a ground-based radar station that resulted in a fight
to the death. This is an incisive look at the RAF's bombing
campaign during 1941-42 through the prism of a multinational crew
which faced mounting risks from an increasingly organised and
integrated German air defence capability.
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