Catania and Syracuse, Sicily
9 July 1943
From 150 Squadron ORB's
Mission summary:
"On this important date, 14 aircraft were detailed to assist our forces in the invasion of Sicily. Three were ordered to attack Catania
with 4000lb bombs and eleven to bomb a limited area of the town of Syracuse. Captains were:
Catania
- Sgt Valentine
- Sgt A. Sullivan
- Sgt Hales
Syracuse
- F/Lt Langlois
- F/Sgt Ivory
- F/Sgt Mortimer
- Sgt L.G. Sullivan
- Sgt Alazrachi
- Sgt Rutherford
- Sgt Wilkes
- Sgt K Smith
- Sgt Macdonald
- Sgt
Tinsley
Seaplane base at Syracuse
The weather was cleart with excellent visibility. Two aircraft bombed Catania but one 4000lb bomb failed to explode. The other
dropped its bomb at Augusta and caused a large explosion followed by a big fire.
At Syracuse, the town was brilliantly illuminated
by flares, accurately dropped by F/Lt Langlois's bomb aimer, so all the crews were able to identify the target and observed their
bombs drop on the target area. Flak at Syracuse was negligible but at Catania there was fairly considerable heavy and light flak and
five searchlights. Many good photographs were obtained. All crews returned ."