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[from 109 Squadron] and his crew, would lead the first formation [in an Oboe-equipped Lancaster borrowed from 582 Squadron]. Having flown a couple of experimental exercises with Squadron Leader Hildyard on a Lancaster for the purpose of familiarization, we were considered to be capable of carrying out this duty. At Graveley (35 Squadron Lancasters) we were detailed to fly on PB272 ‘X for X-Ray’ flown by Flying Officer E.J. Rigby and his usual crew. Bob Jordan and I were to take over the aircraft 60 miles out from the target to operate the Oboe. We were airborne at 10.38 with eleven 1,000lb MC on the racks. Our outward run was normal except that two Lancs touched wings and went down. When we took over, our aircraft came under predicted heavy flak and caught fire, which the crew were able to extinguish. Since we were not on the beam we did not get a release signal and had to jettison the load from 17,000ft. We had a clear view of Squadron Leader Palmer leading the first formation just ahead and his aircraft came under intense AA fire. Smoke billowed from the Lanc and I wondered why he did not bale out there and then because there seemed to be no hope for them. A German fighter then attacked them but they carried on and completed their bombing run. The Lanc then went over on the port side and went down. I cannot think what, other than sheer determination, kept him on the bombing run. He carried out his duty in textbook fashion. 149 After this we went down to 6,000ft and Rigby did a good job getting us all back to Manston.
    The attacks on Siegburg and Limburg, meanwhile, were, after a change of heart, finally led by Oboe Mosquitoes, not Lancasters, as Flight Lieutenant John Garratt recalls:
    After some bright spark suggested using an Oboe Mosquito as Lead Ship, the obvious choice in the first place, my pilot, Flight Lieutenant CM. Rostron DFC and I were detailed as Lead Ship crew! The target was a small installation at Siegburg in western Germany. Our bomb load was four 5001b MC (surprisingly!) and our kite, XVI MM123. We were to take twelve Night Light Strikers carrying 4,000 pounders. Most of East Anglia was fog-bound and the heavies were stood down, but we could land on FIDO at Graveley if we had to. We were to rendezvous with the strikers off Orfordness and proceed in a loose gaggle to the Turning-on-Point for the bombing run where the strikers would close in to a tight formation of Vics astern of the lead ship, with bomb bay doors to open 2 minutes before release point. (The bomb doors on the Mosquito were notoriously prone to creep and if not fully open when the ‘Cookie’ went, they went with it!) The striker’s navigators were to release on visual cue from the lead ship, which I thought was the weak link in the scheme.
    We took off at 14.55. Just enough time to reach the target in daylight. To my surprise we met the strikers on time and in position as planned and flew across Holland into Germany to the Turning-on-Point where the Oboe ground stations called us in and we began to transmit, creating the beam. The run down the beam went OK. There was little opposition and the striker-pilots’ station keeping, I thought, remarkable, particularly since we had had no formation practice. Our timing was bang-on and the release signal came loud and clear. Immediately after bomb release we broke formation in an orderly manner (bearing in mind it was now getting dark, even at 30-odd thousand feet) and flew back to base singly. All kites returned safely. At debriefing we were told our error off AP was small and the timing spot on. Despite enquiries I never learned whether the operation was considered a success. The intelligence bods never told us much, safe in their ivory towers. However, we never flew another ‘Formation Daylight’.
    A successful daylight raid was carried out on 31 December against the Oslo Gestapo Headquarters, in Victoria Terrasse (last bombed by 105 Squadron Mosquitoes on 25 September 1942) by the