Kennet Beauchamp - Mosquito Missions
1944
23 Sqn
1 Aug Beauchamp arrives at 23 Sqn, Little Snoring as OC B Flt with his navigator, F/O E Dales.
4 Aug. Mosquito FBVI PZ313. 1530-1720. One of thirteen 23 Sqn ac tasked to escort Lancasters to oil storage targets the Gironde estuary in daylight. This was the first use of 100 Group ‘Serrate’ Mosquitos in this role, with 27 Mosquitoes escorting 288 Lancasters. Recalled.
5 Aug. Mosquito FBVI PZ313. 1555-2115. Same crews as 4 Aug to escort Lancasters to the Gironde estuary again; 30 Mosquitoes escorting 306 Lancasters.
6 Sep. Mosquito FBVI PZ334 (ORB says HR217). 2200-2350. ‘Freshman’ patrol to Zuider Zee. Uneventful.
10 Sep. Mosquito FBVI PZ331. 0345-0645. Harmstadt patrol; two trains attacked with guns.
12 Sep. Mosquito FBVI PZ334. 2215-0315. Patrol Lechfeld (Augsburg). Saw lights on airfield; no action.
19 Sep. Sqn Ldr Beauchamp departed 23 Sqn (after a quiet and well-organized session) on promotion to command 157 Sqn.
157 Sqn
21 Sep. Beauchamp & Dales arrive 157 Sqn.
157 Sqn Mosquito at RAF Swannington (haveringlandparishchurch.wordpress.com)
4 Oct. Mosquito NFXIX MM630. 2nd pilot to Gp Capt Slade; Base – East Kirkby – Spilsby – Base. Earlier – affil with 6 Gp Lancasters.
4 Oct. Mosquito NFXIX TA401. 0020-0440. Patrol (Intruder High) at Gutersloh. Uneventful; contacts only in bomber stream.
15 Oct. Mosquito NFXIX TA401. 1910-2320. Patrol (Intruder Low) at Westerland / Sylt. AI contact converted to visual – Ju88 – but no strikes observed.
19 Oct. Mosquito NFXIX TA401. 1900-2345. High Level Support Patrol (Intruder High) Nuremburg. Uneventful. Gee, Monica, AI unserviceable at 2200 hrs. “Target well alight and bombing seemed well concentrated”.
29 Oct. Mosquito NFXIX TA401. 1825-2235. Beauchamp led 6 ac to Juvincourt, from where they were tasked to carry out low level intruding in the Munich area (specifically Muhldorf / Erding for Beauchamp). 10/10 low stratus uneventful. AI contact converted to visual on Black Widow.
30 Oct. Mosquito NFXIX TA401. 1900-2310. High Level patrol (Intruder High) to Cologne area (Paderborn-Siegen) 10/10 Stratus; one AI contact at 4 miles, which closed to 1 mile and was then lost. Beauchamp’s last trip with Fg Off Dales (sick). 905 Bomber Command aircraft attacked Cologne, causing substantial damage.
1 Nov. Mosquito NFXIX TA401. Nav: FS Fraser. 1830-2230. Patrol Gutersloh (Intruder High); uneventful. One of seven 157 Sqn aircraft tasked in support of a 493-aircraft Oboe-marked attack on Cologne.
4 Nov. Mosquito NFXIX TA401. Nav: Fg Off Money. High level Patrol Lingen-Bochum. One of nine 157 Sqn aircraft tasked to support a successful 749-aircraft attack on Bochum, the last major raid of the War on this target. 157 Sqn trialled a new technique, each pilot being allocated a point near the target from which to plan his own patrol and route to/from that point. Contact obtained Munster / Hamdorf 5 miles range. 10 min chase 045o visual on Me110 – three bursts. Me110 dived vertically and exploded on ground.
6 Nov. Mosquito NFXIX TA401. Nav: Fg Off Money. 1750-2200. High Level Patrol Lingen – Lippstrete, in support of a 242-aircraft attack on the Mitteland Canal at Gravenhorst. Uneventful. Other 157 Sqn crews claimed one Me110 destroyed and one probable, although the crew who destroyed an Me110 subsequently became the target of American attention until properly identified by switching navigation lights on and waggling wings.
18 Nov. Mosquito NFXIX TA392 ‘K’. Nav: Fg Off Money (ORB says Flt Lt Schofield). 1730-2120. High Level Patrol Munster area (Ruhr); one of seven 157 Sqn aircraft operating in support of a 479-aircraft raid on Munster. Uneventful. One contact chased but could not be overtaken.
23 Nov. Mosquito NFXIX TA401. Nav: Flt Lt Scholefield. 1910-2310. High Level patrol Frankfurt area in support of a spoof raid on the Ruhr. Uneventful.
27 Nov. Mosquito NFXIX TA401. Nav: Flt Lt Scholefield. High Level Patrol Frankfurt-Cologne area; one of eight 157 Sqn aircraft in support of a 290-aircraft raid on Neuss. Uneventful.
30 Nov. Mosquito NFXIX TA401. Nav: Flt Lt Scholefield. High Level Patrol Munster area. One of six 157 Sqn aircraft in support of a 39 Mosquito attack on the oil plant at Meiderich, Duisburg. Uneventful. One 157 crew claimed a Ju188 probably destroyed.
6 Dec. Mosquito NFXIX TA401. Nav: Flt Lt Scholefield. 1850-2330. High Level patrol Leipzig - Erfurt area in support of a 487-aircraft raid on the synthetic oil plant at Leuna, near Merseburg; the first major attack on an oil target in eastern Germany. Uneventful. Eleven 157 aircraft were operating this night, with 2 other major raids in progress. A 157 Sqn crew operating to the West of Beauchamp, near Eisenach, shot down an Me110, while a crew operating near Frankfurt shot down an Me110 and a Ju88.
12 Dec. Mosquito NFXIX TA401. Nav: Flt Lt Scholefield. 1705-2240. High Level Patrol ??? – Frankfurt. One of nine 157 Sqn ac in support of a 540-aircraft raid on Essen, of which 6 Lancasters were lost. Post War, German Armaments Minister Albert Speer commented on the accuracy of this attack on the Krupp works. Beauchamp chased a contact to Aschaffenburg airfield, where he identified it as an Me110 with long range tanks. He fired two short bursts and observed strikes, but lost contact due to poor visibility and the AI being upset by the firing of the guns, claiming one Me110 damaged.
17 Dec. Mosquito NFXIX TA401. Nav: Flt Lt Scholefield. 1945-0100. High Level Patrol Munich area. One contact chased and lost. Fourteen 157 Sqn aircraft in support of attacks on Ulm and, later, Duisburg. Of the Ulm crews, one claimed an Me110 as damaged after a descending fight to 600’, another chased an Me110 from the target area and destroyed it, while Beauchamp chased a contact for 10 minutes but lost it in a hard turn to port. One of the Duisburg crews also claimed a Me110 destroyed.
21 Dec. Mosquito NFXIX TA401. Nav: Flt Lt Scholefield. 1620-2050. High Level Patrol Frankfurt area. Contact 6o port 5 miles, 12000’ West of Koblenz, chased for 18 minutes. Visual on Ju88, short burst given and enemy aircraft peeled off; followed down to 1500’ on top of low cloud and gave 3 more short bursts from port quarter. Strikes observed and enemy aircraft seen to explode on the ground N of Frankfurt. Claim one Ju88 Destroyed.
23 Dec. Mosquito NFXIX TA401. Nav: Flt Lt Scholefield. 1625-2115. High Level Patrol Frankfurt area. Uneventful. One of six 157 aircraft in support of Mosquito and Lancaster attacks on the railway yards at Limburg and Trier respectively, one of which claimed a Ju88 damaged with another crew claiming a Ju88 destroyed.
24 Dec. Mosquito NFXIX TA401. Nav: Flt Lt Scholefield. 1615-2050. High Level Patrol, Frankfurt area. One chase, lost in bomber stream. One of ten 157 sqn operating, one of which claimed two Me110s destroyed, with a further two crews claiming another Me110 and Ju88.
28 Dec. Mosquito NFXIX TA401. Nav: Flt Lt Scholefield. High Level Patrol Bonn-Koblenz-Frankfurt area. Uneventful, probably due to low cloud and fog preventing German night fighter operations. Bomber Command’s total effort this day was 638 sorties, for the loss of 3 aircraft.
Beauchamp’s logbook shows 1521 hrs 35 min total flying time.
1945
1 Jan. Mosquito NFXIX TA401. Nav: Flt Lt Scholefield. 1700-2150. High Level Patrol Munster-Gutersloh-Paderborn. In support of a 5 Group attack on the Dortmund-Ems canal. Uneventful.
2 Jan. Mosquito NFXIX TA401. Nav: Flt Lt Scholefield. 1710-2245. High Level Patrol Nuremburg area in support of a successful 521-aircraft attack on Nuremburg. Uneventful. A 157 Sqn crew claimed a Ju88 destroyed after an “exhausting chase on a violently weaving target”.
7 Jan. Mosquito NFXIX TA393. Nav: Flt Lt Scholefield. 1955-0035. High Level Patrol Stuttgart area. One of twelve 157 sqn aircraft in support of an attack on Munich by 645 Lancasters and 9 Mosquitoes. Uneventful.
22 Jan. Mosquito NFXIX MM650 (undercarriage failed to retract on MM634 earlier in the Day). Nav: Flt Lt Scholefield. High Level Patrol Twenthe-Wesel. One of ten 157 Sqn aircraft is support of attacks on Duisburg and Gelsekirchen. Uneventful.
1 Feb. Mosquito NFXIX TA401. Nav: Flt Lt Scholefield. 1728-2233. High level Patrol Frankfurt-Mannheim area in support of an attack on Mainz. Uneventful.
2 Feb. Mosquito NFXIX TA401. Nav: Flt Lt Scholefield. High Level Patrol Stuttgart area; one of ten 157 aircraft in support of attacks on Wiesbaden, Wanne-Eickel and Karlsruhe. Uneventful.
3 Feb. Mosquito NFXIX TA401. Nav: Flt Lt Schofleield. 2125-0230. High Level Patrol N-S East of Dortmund, in support of attacks on the benzol plants at Bottrop and Dortmund. Uneventful.
7 Feb. Mosquito NFXIX TA401. Nav: Flt Lt Schofield. 2240-0240. Patrol at 10000’ in Munster area; one of eight 157 Sqn aircraft in support of an attack on the Dortmund-Ems canal at Ladbergen. One chase on unidentified aircraft which eventually drew away.
8 Feb. Mosquito NFXIX TA401. Nav: Flt Lt Scholefield. 2110.0205. 7000’ Patrol in Berlin - Stettin area; contacts on friendlies only. One of eight 157 Sqn aircraft in support of an attack on the synthetic oil plant at Politz by 475 Lancasters and 7 Mosquitoes, of which 12 Lancasters were lost. Post War, Albert Speer identified this raid as being a big setback to Germany’s war effort.
13 Feb. Mosquito NFXIX TA401. Nav: Flt Lt Scholefield. 1930-0105. High Level Patrol Magdeburg – Leipzig area in support of a 368-aircraft raid on the synthetic oil plant at Bohlen. 157 Sqn also supported the attack on Dresden. Uneventful.
20 Feb. Mosquito NFXIX TA401. 2240-0315. High Level Patrol Munster-Paderborn; one of eight 157 Sqn aircraft in support of the final successful attack on Dortmund and an abortive attack on the Mitteland Canal at Gravenhorst. Uneventful.
5 Mar. Mosquito NFXIX TA401. Nav: Flt Lt Scholefield. 1900-0115. High Level Patrol 20000’ over Chemnitz target area (Operation THUNDERCLAP). Many visuals on bombers and one on a Ju88 which was lost in the bomber stream. Beauchamp’s was the only 157 sqn aircraft operating this night.
7 Mar. Mosquito NFXIX TA401. Nav: Flt Lt Scolefield. 2001-0111. High Level Patrol Dessau / Magdeburg area. Uneventful. 157 Sqn patrolled below the level of the bombers; 85 Sqn patrolled above and found themselves considerably hampered by ‘window’ and H2S interference.
16 Mar. Mosquito NFXIX TA401. Nav: Flt Lt Scholefield. 1818-0017. High Level Patrol 15000’ on the Crailsheim area (Beacon DAGMAR) in support of attacks on Wurzburg and Nuremburg. Uneventful. One 157 Sqn crew followed a contact into the bomber stream and shot down a Ju88, but were damaged by debris and shut one engine down to make a single-engined landing at Manston.
19 Mar. Mosquito NFXIX TA401. Nav: Flt Lt Scholefield. 0249-0739. Hanau target area “One contact on likely hun lost in bomber stream & window”.
21 Mar. Mosquito NFXIX TA401. Nav: Flt Lt Scholefield. 0040-0640. Patrol 7000’ Karlsruhe-Crailsheim-Kitzingen. Uneventful.
8 Apr. Mosquito NFXIX TA401. Nav: Flt Lt Scholefield. 2045-0125. High Level Patrol Leipzig area; one of four 157 Sqn crews in support of an attack on the Lutzkendorf oil refinery by 231 Lancasters and 11 Mosquitoes. Uneventful.
14 Apr. Mosquito NFXIX TA401. Nav: Flt Lt Scholefield. High Level Patrol SE Berlin, accompanying the ‘window’ force on an attack on Potsdam by 500 Lancasters and 12 Mosquitoes. This was the last major raid on a city by Bomber Command. Uneventful.
7 May. Beauchamp leads a formation of six 157 Sqn aircraft on a day cross country flight around the Ruhr Valley to view bomb damage.
157 sqn Crest (IWM)
