I had the good fortune to become friendly with a chap
who had been observer on Mosquito's with 139 squadron.


Is he still with us, Keith? I for one would love to hear what your friend
wants to say. The central story of our book concerns a meeting between a
Kommando Welter Me 262 pilot and the lead Pathfinder (also from "Jamaica"
squadron) on a mission over Berlin on 27 March 45. Any input from the LNSF
vets would help flesh out the story.


It always annoyed him that the efforts of the LNSF were lagely
forgotten but these 'light' bombers were hauling 4000 lb bomb loads
deep into Germany in 1944 and 1945 and driving the German's
crazy trying to intercept them.

That sums it up nicely. In fact, the Mosquito confounded the Reich (cof) right
up to its last missions - even the introduction of turbine nightfighters made
little effect other than a mild rise in claims. Simply put, the Germans
reached the conclusion that there were no antidote for the damned wooden
things. I have all the minutes to various upper level management meetings,
including the 1943 meeting where Milch first uses the now-familiar phrase
'defense of the homeland' (Reichverteidegung - -sp) to describe the new
priority of bomber defense. That meeting made it clear that the initiating
spark was the "catastrophe" of Hamburg a couple of days previously. Galland,
in one of the follow on meetings in the same series, goes off on a tangent and
discusses in colorful language how, if only the tardy jets could get into
action, they could finally "have" the Mosquitos any time they wanted. "One
shows up over your airfield to take a photo and pfffft. down he goes." General
agreement around the table. That was in 1943 - when the Mosquito was still a
new and sometimes mis-used weapon in our arsenal, but the Germans already knew
it as a lethal threat.

Did you ever find any other Mossie airmen...?

v/r
Gordon
====(A+C====
USN SAR

An LZ is a place you want to land, not stay.