Page 18 - Earl Grife

th
Crew bombing photo taken on the 25 April 1945 from Lancaster PA 1318 E - Easy.
This Lancaster was new, the crew taking her on three and this the third and last operation.
This Lancaster was allocated post war to 150 Squadron at RAF Hemswell then struck of charge
rd
and scrapped on 3 December 1946 having been in storage at 10 Maintenance Unit,
RAF Hullvington, Wiltshire.

The picture is of Hitler’s Alpine residence at Berchtesgaden in Bavaria. The Lancaster is at 18,000
feet on a near northerly course of 330 degrees.
The bomb load consisted of 1x 4000lb high capacity bomb known as a Cookie, 4x 1000lb general
purpose bombs and 1x 500lb general purpose bomb.
The bomb load was released at 09.57 am. Due to smoke obscuring the target area the pilot, Bill
Holmes took the Lancaster around for a second bombing run, hence the near northerly course on
bomb release.
The crew’s bomb aimer Frank Christison stated they were on target and that the bombs fell within
the target area.