perseus
Active member
I don't know if anyone can beat this example, from Max Hastings' Bomber Command. He writes about one of the night bombing raids by a Whitley of 10 group stationed near the East coast of England in Yorkshire during May 1940.
The target was a German aerodrome in Holland. On route over the North Sea they encountered a magnetic storm which disrupted the compass, causing them to loose their bearings. The pilot Warren asked the navigator for a new course. Well the Dutch Coast came and went; and after dodging some flak, they saw the Rhine and flew along it. The second Pilot then shouted out he had located the target airfield, so they dropped their bombs and flew back.
After first light they dropped below the cloud and located a city below which turned out to be the city of Liverpool on the west coast of England. Only then did they realise they must have bombed something inside England.
In fact it wasn't the Rhine but the Thames estuary and they had bombed one of Fighter Commands Aerodromes in Cambridgeshire East England with otherwise uncharacteristic precision straight across the runway.
The Pilot was demoted, forever known afterwards as Baron von Warren. Later two Spitfires flew over his airfield and dropped Iron crosses!
Strangely enough this raid provided useful information because they found out the bombs were quite useless and did little damage to the runway.
The target was a German aerodrome in Holland. On route over the North Sea they encountered a magnetic storm which disrupted the compass, causing them to loose their bearings. The pilot Warren asked the navigator for a new course. Well the Dutch Coast came and went; and after dodging some flak, they saw the Rhine and flew along it. The second Pilot then shouted out he had located the target airfield, so they dropped their bombs and flew back.
After first light they dropped below the cloud and located a city below which turned out to be the city of Liverpool on the west coast of England. Only then did they realise they must have bombed something inside England.
In fact it wasn't the Rhine but the Thames estuary and they had bombed one of Fighter Commands Aerodromes in Cambridgeshire East England with otherwise uncharacteristic precision straight across the runway.
The Pilot was demoted, forever known afterwards as Baron von Warren. Later two Spitfires flew over his airfield and dropped Iron crosses!
Strangely enough this raid provided useful information because they found out the bombs were quite useless and did little damage to the runway.
n 23 december 1944,the USAAF attacked the Belgian city of Malmedy (in allied territory) ,the USAAF received a lot of protests of the army,but,maybe,the officer receiving the protests was illiterate,because on 24 december there was a new bombardment,followed by an other one on 25 december .
