The crews who had attacked Munich last night only returned to Waddington between six and seven this morning. Consequently aircrew were rather scarce for most of the morning. It was therefore no surprise for Flight Lieutenant Jim Marshall and his crew when they returned from Ford this morning to find that a stand-down had been declared.
It was, of course, ANZAC Day, and a ‘smoko’ was organised to mark that auspicious date. Australians serving on other stations in the area were all invited and a crowd of some 500 had gathered by the early evening. “Needless to say”, wrote the officer compiling the 463 Squadron Operational Record Book before going on and saying it anyway, “a good time was had by all.”
Following the large effort the previous night most of the rest of Bomber Command was also stood down tonight. But some crews still sallied forth across the North Sea. Three Mosquitos attacked Cologne, 25 Stirlings laid mines off the northern and western French coasts, nine Wellingtons scattered leaflets over Northern France and a single Mosquito made a weather reconnaissance flight. No casualties resulted from the night’s operations.[1]
This post is part of a series called 467 Postblog, posted in real time to mark the 70th anniversary of the crew of B for Baker while they were on operational service with 467 Squadron at RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire. See this link for an in-depth explanation of the series, and this one for full citations of sources used throughout it. © 2014 Adam Purcell
Sources:
[1] Night Raid Report No. 587
Something Very Big 