Crew
F/S Vernon John Zinzan. Pilot
W/O James Sydney George Coote. Navigator
F/O Robert Douglas Sommerville. Air Bomber
Sgt. Miles Parr. Wireless Operator
Sgt. A. Ackroyd. Flight Engineer
Sgt. H. Hutchinson. Mid Upper Gunner
Sgt. J. McManus. Rear Gunner
Aircraft
Lancaster Mk.I RF127
“W” for William
Remarks
Bomb load 1 x 4,000 H.C. 7 x 500 ANM. 1 Munroe.
Primary target – Saltzgitter.
Remained on tracking pulse for some time but it failed periodically and no release pulse came on. When bombing attempted there was green smoke puffs and two minutes later when cookie was jettisoned there was another.
Flight
Up 12.45 29th March
Down 19.12 29th March
Total Flight Time 6 hours 27 minutes
75 (NZ) Sqn RAF Operations Record Book (ORB)
29/3/45
Operations.
Twenty one aircraft attacked Saltzgitter as detailed. Cloud was ten tenths, tops up to 19,000 ft and thin cloud and contrails persisting above, reducing visibility to 500yds. No results were observed and a scattered raid is reported. Flak moderate.
Page 170, 1945. Form 540/ 541 AIR27/ 647 75(NZ) Squadron RAF, Mepal. National Archives.
Bomber Command War Diary
29 March 1945
130 Lancasters of No 3 Group carried out a G-H raid on the Hermann Goering benzol plant at Salzgitter. No results were seen through the cloud. No aircraft were lost.
