Important Dates WW II, Sept. 15 &17: Nuremburg Laws, Battle of Britain, Poland, Operation Market Garden

SEPTEMBER 15

**  1935:  The Nuremburg Laws deprived German Jews of their citizenship and made the swastika the official symbol of Nazi Germany.

**  1940:  During the Battle of Britain the tide turned as the Luftwaffe sustained heavy losses inflicted by the Royal Air Force.

SEPTEMBER 17

**  1939:  The Soviet Union invaded Poland, more than two weeks after Germany launched its assault on that country.

**  1944:  Allied paratroopers launched Operation Market Garden, landing behind German lines in the Netherlands.

The Allies, however, encountered fierce German resistance.

--GreGen

No. 8 Group RAF-- Part 3: Heavy Losses During the War

Continued from Friday.

There were initially five squadrons in Group 8, but that was expanded to 19.  No. 8 Force was also responsible for  the Light Night Striking Force which used Mosquito bombers and harassing Germany.

The Force was disbanded 15 December 1945.  However, in 1943, members got patches with the inscription "We Guide To Strike."

Most of the Pathfinder Forces (PFF) were members of the Royal Air Force, but there were also members from Commonwealth countries.

The PFF flew a total of 50,490 individual sorties against some 3,440 targets.  It was at a big cost, though.  At least 3,727 members lost their lives.

--GreGen

No. 8 Group RAF-- Part 2: Using Oboe, Gee and H2S

It was a key component of the Bomber Command.  It consisted of specialist squadrons that marked targets for the main targets of Bomber Command aircraft.

The Force, which had been formed in August 1943 with five squadrons flying a mix of Short Stirlings, Handley Page Halifaxes, Avro Lancasters and Vickers Wellingtons.

Whenever new improved aircraft became available, like the de Havilland Mosquito,  8 Group got the first ones.  Its aircraft used  advanced navigation aids like Gee, H2S and Oboe to find targets of attack more accurately than the main force of bombers could do on their own by eye.

--GreGen

No. 8 Group RAF-- Part 1: In Both World Wars

From Wikipedia.

The No. 8 Group RAF (Royal Air Force) existed in the final year of the First World War and during the Second World War.

During the First World War it was formed in April 1918 as a training unit and designated  as 8 Group (Training).  It remained  at this for the remainder of the war and was disbanded May 1919.

SECOND WORLD WAR

The group was re-established as No. 8 (Bomber) Group on 1 September 1941 only to be disbanded  around five months later on 28 January 1942.

However, 8 Group was re-constituted when Bomber  Command's Pathfinder Force was redesignated No. 8 (Pathfinder Force) Group on 8 January 1943.

--GreGen

We Guide To Strike-- Part 2: Marked the Targets

The Pathfinder force was able to penetrate the industrial pollution with aircraft equipped with the blind-bombing device known as Oboe.  This technology afforded them the ability to seek out targets regardless of weather conditions and to illuminate desired areas with brilliant target markers which reflected back up from the ground through the haze.

The application of the crew's precise identification of the target locations enabled  the following bomber strikes to be  incisively accurate.

That's why "We Guide To Strike" is the motto of the No. 8 Pathfinder Force Group.

--GreGen

"We Guide To Strike"-- Part 1: 156 Squadron Pathfinder Force

From the Paralyzed Veterans of America 2018 Calendar Heroes of the Air.  With another amazing painting by Aviation Artist Gil Cohen.

November 2018.

You see five British RAF men at a high altitude, four working with instruments and one flying the plane.

Here, a Lancaster of 156 Squadron Pathfinder Force, flying ahead of the main force of bombers, makes a run over its target in the heavily defended German industrial Ruhr Valley.

The Ruhr, the greatest industrial area in all of Germany, was the most heavily defended target in the world.  The Ruhr Valley was almost always covered by an almost permanent  smoke-haze from the factories, which made visual pin-pointing of towns below nearly impossible at night.

--GreGen

Donald James Matthew Blakeslee-- Part 1: Flying Ace with 15.5 Victories

This hero was featured in the Paralyzed Veterans of America's August calendar.  My last four posts were about him and the Fourth Fighter Group.

From Wikipedia.

Born  September 11, 1917  Died  September 3, 2008

United States Air Force pilot whose military career began with the Royal Canadian Air Force in World War II.  He then became a member of the Royal Air Force Eagle squadrons before transferring to the  United States Army Air Force in 1942.

He flew more combat missions against the Luftwaffe than any American pilot and by the end of the war was a flying ace credited with 15.5 aerial victories.

Quite a Record.  --GreGen

The Peshtigo Firestorm of 1871-- Part 3: Operation Gomorrah

In Europe, Allied airstrikes at Dresden and Hamburg were carefully planned to turn into incendiary firestorms

Indeed, the destruction at Hamburg was code named "Operation Gomorrah."  Hamburg, because of its industry, shipyards, U-boat pens and oil refineries, made it a major target for Allied attacks all throughout the war.  But the last week of July 1943 Operation Gomorrah created one of the largest firestorms of the war.

Some 42,600 civilians were killed and 37,00 wounded by Royal Air Force and U.S. Army Air Force and virtually destroyed most of the city.

It had not rained for some time and everything was very dry.  The concentrated bombing created a vortex and a super-heated air which created a 460 meter tornado of fire.

--GreGen

World War II Wreck Mystery in Plymouth Sound, England

From the September 22, 2013, BBC News: England "Quest to solve WWII wreck mystery in Plymouth Sound."

Three years ago, sports diver Danny Daniels discovered a plane wreck in Plymouth Sound and at first thought it was a German bomber.  But since then,it has been found to be an RAF Flying Boat, a Sunderland based at RAF Mount Batten.

It had crashed off Plymouth in December 1941 with 15 crew and passengers of whom only 4 survived.

Identification was made through its propeller and pieces of RAF insignia crockery.

--GreGen

World War II Bomber Command Memorial

From the May 10, 2010, BBC News.

World War II's RAF Bomber Command heroes are going to get a 3,500,000 pound mmorial to be built in central London by 2012 (this year).  During the war 55,573 members of the Command were killed at an average age of 22.

The 8.5 meter tall pavillion will be made of Portland Stone and the structure will be open.  Part of the entrance will be made up of melted don sections of a Halifax bomber shot down during the war in which all seven crew members died.  There will also be an inscription by Winston Churchill on it.

It was dedicated June 28, 2012 by Queen Elizabeth II.

GreGen