Can anyone tell me anything more about the V1 site at Middle-Straete? My Dad and crew took part in a raid on this target on the night of June 24/44, and I cant seem to find any info on it. Was it a storage site or a launching site? Any info on the effectiveness of the raid? Thanks everyone for any info ! Cheers, Clint.
Martin Middlebrook lists a number of raids at this time, on the night of 23/24, a daylight raid on 24th and again on 24/25. If it was the daylight raid of the 24th, Bomber Command attacked three sites (not named) and all targets were accurately attacked and suffered no losses.
It looks like it was about 4 km east of Hazebrouck. The NOBALL code for it was XI/A/149,target code was Z.3181. This area was dotted with launch sites and I suspect it was also. The supply and storage sites seem to be well documented on the NOBALL target list with location references while there are quite a few pages of sites with just the NOBALL and target codes along with the name, these seem all to be launch sites. Middel Straete is one of those listed in that section. The operation on June 24th was all 8 Group. H-Hour was 01:25. The primary marking was done by 2 Oboe Mosquitos from 105 Squadron and 3 from 109 Squadron, dropping red target indicators from H-3 to H+2. Number of other aircraft and squadrons involved were 12/7 Sqn, 12/35 Sqn, 14/156 Sqn, 14/405 Sqn, 14/582 Sqn, 14/635 Sqn. Bomb load for the Lancasters was 18x500 lb. 1500 gallons of fuel was specified. Regards Dave Wallace
-- Edited by dawallace on Wednesday 9th of November 2016 09:39:12 AM
Dave: Do you know if the NOBALL Target List is available in any publications (other than at National Archives) as I would be interested in getting hold of a copy for my No 35 Squadron research.
Clint: I can provide details of the No 35 Squadron activities relating to this operation if you are interested. E-Mail me if you are
Regards
Pete
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Researching:
- CA Butler and the loss of Lancaster ME334
- Aircrew Training WWII (Basic / Trade / Operational)
- No. 35 Squadron [From Thetford to Scampton]
[Always looking for COPIES of original documents / photographs etc relating to these subjects]
Pete - the list I have is the NA one. I do have Oboe target data for some Noball sites which give accurate distances (within 6 inches) from the Oboe ground stations to the target such as the one below.