Page 5 - John George Blair

Records do not show the date Jack and his crew arrived at East Kirkby but his first
flight in a Squadron Lancaster was on the 5 May 1944 where the crew did a local
th
flying test and practised air firing of the Lancasters browning machine guns.

th
The crews first operation was on the evening of 11/12 May 1944 in Lancaster
N-Nan, the target was a German troop barracks at Bourg - Leopold in Belgium.
These operations were in support of the forthcoming invasion of France
(Operation Overlord).

Jack completed 8 operations with 630 Squadron including the disastrous operation
th
on the evening of 4 June 1944 to Mailly-le-camp 85 miles east of Paris where 332
st
Lancasters and 14 pathfinder Mosquitoes from 28 squadrons attacked the 21
Panzer Division occupying a pre-war French barracks. The Master Bomber
instructed incoming crews to orbit the target as the target area was becoming
congested with Lancasters. This was a fatal decision as the Lancasters circling the
target area were lit up against the glare of the bombs exploding on the encampment.
Experienced crews saw the danger and circled well clear of the target as Luftwaffe
night fighters from nearby airfields picked off the inexperienced crews. In total 42
Lancasters, one Electronic Countermeasures Halifax and one Pathfinder Mosquito
were shot down. In less than one hour 258 airmen were killed and just 42
parachuting safely to the ground. The Panzer Division suffered many casualties and
its operational readiness and ability to contest the forthcoming Allied invasion was
severely degraded by the bombing. Jack and his crew were very lucky to
survive this night.

st
On the 21 June 1944 the crew were posted out from the Squadron and instructed to
report to 97 (Straits Settlements) Squadron at RAF Coningsby, 8 miles from East
Kirkby. 97 Squadron, originally formed during the First World War was one of No.5
Groups pathfinder squadrons, the other being 83 Squadron which was also stationed
at Coningsby. These two squadrons were used to mark targets for No.5 Group’s
Lancasters by employing the new low level method of marking, which over a period
of months was perfected and vastly improved the accuracy of the Group’s bombing.
As newcomers to the Squadron the crew went to RAF Warboys in Cambridgeshire
and undertook a pathfinding course designed to induct the crew in the methods used
by the Pathfinder Force. The crew returned to Coningsby on the 6 July 1944.
th
st
The crews first operation with 97 Squadron was on the 1 August when the
Squadron (as part of Operation Crossbow) was tasked to Bomb Mont Candon
(Bacqueville-en-Caux) in France. This was a V1 launch site (known as a ski site)
about 12 miles South West of Dieppe and Bomber Command sent out in total 776
aircraft, (385 Lancasters, 324 Halifaxes and 67 Mosquitos) to attack numerous V-
weapon targets but only 79 aircraft were able to bomb, Bomber Command records
do not state why the remaining sorties were abortive but poor weather conditions
were the probable cause. No aircraft were lost.

The crew did another 5 operations then on the 15 August the Squadron was tasked
th
along with other Bomber Command crews totalling 1,003 aircraft, (599 Lancasters,
385 Halifaxes and 19 Mosquitos) to attack 9 airfields in Holland and Belgium in