Mission 667

The crew had been to Hamburg once before, on October 6th. That first time, the 2nd Air Division had tried something different: 450 aircraft split into three-ship formations and approached the target from every direction. It made little difference. The Hamburg gunners tracked each flight individually regardless, and with 150 separate formations in the air, they simply divided their attention accordingly. Bombing results that day were reported as poor. This return visit followed a more conventional approach. The route came in over Nordholz, past the North Weser estuary, Bremen, Verden, Nienburg, and Harburg, with the exit back out over the Frisian Islands. Smoke pods were visible around Bremen, Hamburg, and the mouth of the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal. Over the target, 230 88mm guns were active and the flak was intense. Cloud cover at 10/10ths obscured any view of the results. Ralph flew with another crew that day, testing an all-glass enclosed nose configuration. With no bombardier aboard their own aircraft, Hughes handled the bomb drop himself. Ten 500-pound GP bombs went down into the overcast. The aircraft came back with a large hole in the left side and a fair chip out of the number three propeller. All crew returned safely. Elsewhere in the formation, three men had bailed out.