4
Interestingly, this had not been the only use of Tallboys against German naval targets on this day. Whilst 617 Squadron was striking against Poortershaven, eighteen of 9 Squadron’s Lancasters had been despatched to bomb the Kriegsmarine’s E and R-boat pens at Ijmuiden. Here the crews reported similar results from their attack. Both operations were achieved without loss.
It was partly for his leadership during the Poortershaven raid that Group Captain Fauquier was awarded a second bar to the DSO.
5
The extreme accuracy of the aiming can be seen in Picture (3) with the explosion of two of the Tallboys developing. Moments later, the
“naval installations are smothered by [the] smoke and debris” fromthese two bombs – as can be observed in Picture (4).
The following day a Supermarine Spitfire photo-reconnaissance aircraft of 542 Squadron obtained confirmation of the success of the attack – picture (5). The images taken revealed that many of the concrete buildings had been destroyed or severely damaged. One of the arms leading to the long wharf had been pushed out of alignment.
DAMAGE TO LUFTWAFFE AIRFIELD AT VAERNES NEAR TRONDHEIM
The four photographs in this set relate to an attack on the Luftwaffe airfield at Værnes near Trondheim, Norway, on the night of 27/28 April 1942. The former Norwegianmilitary base was occupied by the Luftwaffe in 1940, and the first main installations on the airfield, including three concrete runways, were constructed by the Germans.
A
During January 1942, the German battleship Tirpitz arrived in Norwegian waters. Her presence there was a cause for great concern amongst the Allies; fromNorway she could strike at shipping in the North Sea and the Atlantic. During March and April that year, whilst she lay at anchor in Foetten Fjord, three attempts were made to bomb and sink her.
It was in the course of the second of these, carried out on the night of 27/28 April, that these images were taken. During the attack on the warship, RAF bombers were tasked to attack the airfield at Værnes. One of the aircraft dropped a 4,000lb bomb on the north-south runway – the explosion of which can be seen in Picture (A).
The following day, the 28th, two reconnaissance sorties were flown in the area. The images they took showed various stages in the repair of the runway – Pictures (B) and (C). The crater was calculated to measure approximately thirty-five feet across and that the area of blast covered a circle of some 230 feet in diameter. Picture (C), taken by the second reconnaissance flight later in the day, indicated that the crater had been partially filled in and that there was a ballast lorry standing by.
The last image, Picture (D), was taken three days after the attack. By then the crater had been completely filled in, though resurfacing had not been completed. The original caption also added: “It is interesting to note the result on a concrete base of a heavy bomb with high blast effect: by comparison with the area of blast the crater is small and though the depth is unknown it is a significant fact that it took more than two days to repair the damage.”
B C D
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