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The squadron that died twice [electronic resource] : the story of No. 82 Squadron RAF, which in 1940 lost 23 out of 24 aircraft in two bombing raids

Thorburn, Gordon2015

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Summary

Twelve twin-engined bombers of 82 Squadron RAF had set out on a fine May morning in 1940, from Watton, Norfolk, in a brave but hopeless attempt to slow down the German armour ripping through Belgium. Sergeant Thomas Morrison was the pilot of the only one to come home. Heavy losses in Bomber Command in World War II were common, normal, came with the territory, but this? Eleven out of twelve were shot down, by flak and fighters, and lay in burning fragments along the Belgium/France border. It is said that history repeats itself. And so it was, almost exactly three months later, on a cloudy day in August 1940, that twelve more twin-engined Bristol Blenheim bombers, each with a crew of three men, set off from Watton, Norfolk, in a brave but hopeless attempt to destroy a Luftwaffe base in enemy-occupied Denmark. One aircraft had to turn for home before it reached the target - the rest were shot down.