The Mission
OPERATION STUTTGART 15/16 March 1944
863 aircraft- 617 Lancasters, 230 Halifaxes & 16 Mosquitos were ordered to attack Stuttgart. The German Fighter controller split his forces into 2 parts. The bomber force flew over France nearly as far as the Swiss frontier before turning north-east to approach Stuttgart.
This delayed the German fighters contacting the bomber stream, but when the German fighters did arrive, just before the target was reached, the usual fierce combats ensued.
37 Aircraft, 27 Lancasters and 10 Halifaxes were lost, (4.3% of the force). 2 of the Lancasters force landed in Switzerland.
Who shot down Lancaster A4-K?
Adverse winds delayed the opening of the attack and the same winds may have been the cause of the Pathfinder marking falling back, well short of the target, despite the clear weather conditions.
Some of the early bombing fell in the centre of Stuttgart and some housing was destroyed in the south-western suburbs
The Target
Daimler Benz Stuttgart
As you can see from this picture taken mid 1944 - a job well done!