for the RAF during it's nocturnal missions over the Reich.

Was watching a thread develop on rafcommands and thought I would ask here for opinions.

any good book or declaration(s)/documentation of what the RAF bomber command used for target indicators ? Was this common practice for colors on every raid no matter how large or small and what A/C were equipped ?

Mossie-Oboe or Hali's/Lancs or did it matter ??

thanks all

E ♫

Erich, there are two essential books giving the answers to your questions ; -

'Pathfinder Force - A History Of 8 Group' by Gordon Musgrove ( MacDonald & Janes, 1976 )

'Bombs Gone' by MacBean & Hogben ( PSL, 1990 ).

The first gives descriptions of the pyrotechnics and full details of how they were used, the latter gives technical details of the bombs ( 'Pink Pansies', 'Red Spots', 'Blobs', etc etc ).

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Here is some information and a picture from the History Channel web site. I guess you have to take it with a grain of salt, or the whole box. It is toward the bottom of the page.

http://www.ww2guide.com/britishb.shtml

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Work Harder ! Millions on welfare are depending on you.

That's actually not a bad starting point - at least the details are correct. But if you want the full story - and it is quite complex - you'll ned the secondhand bookstores

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

thanks gents ............. do wish we had some decent second hand bookstore(s) here in my neck of the prairie

From 1943 onwards it was usual for most missions to include Pathfinder aircraft. This was due mainly due to a bombing evaluation report that determined that most of the bombing prior to this period was inaccurate and ineffective, thus the theory of creating a specialist group. (Look for Bennett on the Web). The Pathfinder presence could consist of anything from a single Mosquito, Wellington, or Lancaster Bomber. More usually it was a flight of aircraft.
To date the best description of there tactics is a report from the Luftwaffe, which was obtained from Mahaddies' book and is reproproduced on my site: http://www.156squadron.com/about_pathfinders2.asp

Different color flares were used and the usage was switched from mission to mission.

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Peter Hinchliffe's The Other Battle is also recommended.