Page 14 - John D. Cormack

This navigator’s map from Sergeant B.A.Gilbert, the navigator with the 576
Squadron crew of Flying Officer J. Everitt. It shows the route taken by 576 Squadron
on the afternoon of 30 April 1945 to Delft Airfield.
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The squadron took just over two hours to deliver the sacks of food to the
Dutch civilians who lined the route to each of the drop zones waving at the crew’s
who were flying at less than 1000 feet.

It was reported German troops that did fire on the low flying Lancasters but
the crew’s were under orders not to return fire if fired upon. No RAF Lancasters were
lost during the Operation ‘Manna’ flights but one American B17 was lost over the
North Sea on one of the American operation ‘Chow Hound’ flights.