Page 36 - John George Blair

Jack can be seen here in the Squadron Operational Record Book flying with the
crew of Flight Sergeant Sayers in a ʿBʿ Flight Lancaster NG 273 Y – Yoke2. This,
Jack’s first operation with 576 Squadron and the 20 operation of his 30 operation
th
tour was to the German town of Plauen in Saxony, East Central Germany situated
near the Czech border. 576 Squadron that night put up a maximum effort of 26
Lancasters, each with a war load of 1 x 4,000 lb high capacity demolition bomb,
known as a ‘Cookie’ and 10 x 500 lb medium capacity bombs. Each Lancaster would
with fuel have an all up take-off weight of 65,000lbs, almost 29 tons.

Plauen that night was subject to an area bombing raid with 307 Lancasters and 8
Mosquitos Pathfinder aircraft of No’s 1 and 8 Groups taking part in the operation. No
aircraft were lost. The bombing fell around the railway yards in the northern half of
the town. The railways were hit and 365 acres, 51 per cent, of the town's built-up
area were also destroyed.