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 ♫

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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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I need a bailout of only $500,000

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

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E ~

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.