Date: 6th September 1944
Target: Emden
Crew: AE Johnson, GB Thomas, H Coulton, RM Jenkins, R Neale, DF Hadland, CA Butler
Aircraft: PB199(N)
Role: Bomber
Take Off: 16.25 Landing: 20.23
Crew Report:
35 Squadron ORB: 7 aircraft took off in the afternoon to Emden. The dockyards were visually identified and heavily bombed.
Bomber Command:
Aircraft Used: 105 Halifaxes and 76 Lancasters of Nos 6 and 8 Groups on the first large raid to Emden since June 1942; it was also the last Bomber Command raid of the war on this target. The force was provided with an escort, first of Spitfires and then of American Mustangs.
Losses: Only 1 Lancaster, that of the deputy Master Bomber, Flight Lieutenant Granville Wilson, DSO, DFC, DFM of No 7 Squadron, a 23-year-old Northern Irishman, was lost. Wilson’s aircraft received a direct hit from a flak shell and he was killed instantly, together with his navigator and bomb aimer, Sergeants D Jones and ER Brunsdon. The 5 other members of the crew escaped by parachute.
Summary: The bombing was accurate and Emden was seen to be a mass of flames, but no local report is available other than a brief note which states that several small ships in the harbour were sunk.
Aircraft Q failed to return 