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60 years ago tonight saw RAF Bomber Command lose more men in a single night than RAF Fighter Command lost in the entire Battle of Britain.
'The Nuremburg Raid' has gone into the history books ( three have been written purely about this raid ) as the night when 'everything went wrong' causing Bomber Command's most disastrous night ; and as a counterpoint, it marked the high-water mark of the Luftwaffe's Nachtjagd
Crews at one Bomber airfield were told at briefing that 795 aircraft would be operating. When the shocked crews returned, a Canadian bluntly told the disbelieving Intelligence Officer that Bomber Command could 'scrub the odd ninety-five'.
He was almost correct - it was 96 aircraft lost, 545 aircrew missing.
It was the night that Cyril 'Joe' Barton won the only 'Halifax' VC of the war - posthumously. And Guy Gibson's Dams Raid rear-gunner, 'Trev' Trevor-Roper, finally lost his life in a 97 Squadron Lancaster which fell to Martin Drewes' guns.
Bombs were scattered all over Bavaria - the citizens of Nuremburg didn't even realise that they were the 'target for tonight'.
It was the end of the 'Battle Of Berlin'; after tonight D-Day took precedence.
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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson
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