Independence Day Raid

July 4, 1942 – Independence Day in the USA – was chosen as the date of the Americans ‘first official’ raid. Twelve Douglas 'Bostons' from 226 Squadron of the British Royal Air Force led by Squadron Leader Kennedy, were ordered to attack enemy airfields in Holland.

Six of these aircraft were flown by American air crew of the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) 15th (Light) Bomb Squadron.  

From left to right:

-the Squadron Crest of No. 226 Squadron, Royal Air Force,

-a Douglas 'Boston' Mk III. An American built aircraft, in British RAF colors. Photographed at Floyd Bennett Field, New York, prior to be shipped to the UK under the 'Lend Lease Agreement'. 

-an aerial photograph of Swanton Morley airfield.

The four airfields to be attacked were from north to south: De Kooy, Bergen-Alkmaar, Valkenburg and Haamstede.

Take-off time was scheduled as early, in the hope of catching the German defenses off-guard.

The morning of Saturday July 4 saw the first Boston take-off from Swanson Morley at 07.09 hours. The rest of the formation followed in the next five minutes.

Forming up over the Norfolk countryside, they flew out over the coast at low level, and en route over the North Sea spotted some enemy vessels, which may have alerted the German defenses. On reaching the Dutch coast, they split into their separate formations of three aircraft to attack the airfields.

All pilots had been instructed to approach and attack their targets at low level. According to the RAF Operations Record Book of 22 6 Squadron "Visibility at all targets was very good and there were no low clouds". (German/AJvH) "Reporting vessels were seen on the way in and flak opposition over the targets was intense. From this operation three of our aircraft failed to return, the crews of two being American".

Note: the USAAF crewed 'Bostons' carried an extra aerial gunner in the ventral gun position. 

Intense anti aircraft fire greeted the three Boston aircraft heading for the airfield at De Kooy. The leading RAF crewed aircraft escaped being hit but aircraft #3 flown by four USAAF crew and piloted by Lieutenant Frederick A. Loehrl, had its nose blown off by a direct flak hit and crashed in flames killing the pilot and the two gunners. The Navigator, Lieutenant Marshall Draper survived, though wounded. He had the unfortunate distinction to become the very first US 8th Air Force Prisoner of War. For the rest of the war, until the 8th of May 1945 he would spend his time in the German POW-camp Stalag VII-A, at Moosburg, Bavaria. 

The A-20 'Boston' flown by Captain Charles Kegelman was shot up badly as it swept in low over De Kooy airfield. Its starboard engine took a direct hit, losing the propeller, the fuselage was ripped open and the rear of the fuselage scraped the ground. Despite this desperate situation Captain Kegelman managed to keep the plane airborne. Kegelman jettisoned his bombs and the crippled aircraft swung away from the airfield, into the path of fire from a flak tower. Keeping his nerves the pilot silenced the German anti aircraft guns with his A-20 nose guns. Then he steered his badly damaged aircraft, flying on one engine, to the relative safety of the North Sea and headed back to base. 

The second trio of A-20 'Bostons' flew low over the airfield at Bergen-Alkmaar, where they dropped their bombs amid intense anti aircraft fire. The aircraft flown by Lieutenant William G. Lynn Jr was hit by flak and crashed on the airfield before being able to drop its bombs on the intended target. The crew of four perished in the subsequent crash, which incidentally was caught on camera since the lead airplane flown by Flight Lieutenant Yates-Earl carried a photo camera in its tail, in order to bring back photographic evidence of the low level 'Independence Day Raid'. 

The black area on the left hand side of the photograph is called the 'titling bar'.

This is where photo interpretation analysts added their remarks when the photographs, returned from the flown mission, were analysed.

The 'titling bar' provides the following information:

-YK refers to the aircraft carrying the camera, 'Y' being the 'Radio Call Letter of Flt Lt R.A.  Yates-Earl's aircraft.  

-226 is the RAF Squadron Number.  

-4.7.42 refers to the date of the attack, July 4th 1942.

-F.8".M refers to the focus setting of the camera.

Note that in the annotation of the photograph itself you can see the following:

-'D': a Focke Wulf 190 fighter aircraft.

-'C': a rudimentary control tower

-'A': smoke indicators of the bombs which have just hit the hanger (camouflaged by netting). The bombs had delayed action fuses, set to explode after two minutes when all aircraft had cleared the target area.

-'E': the second aircraft in the attack.

-'B': William Lynn's aircraft crashing and exploding on the airfield before reaching the target.

Source of the photograph: National Archives and Records Administration via Hans Nauta/Study Group Air War 1939-1945.

Note the Focke Wulf FW-190 in the left-hand bottom corner of the photograph. This aircraft was preparing to take-off when the attack on Bergen Alkmaar took place. Chasing the two Boston's over the North Sea, the RAF crewed aircraft Z2213 / 'U', was shot down on fire about 15 miles from the Dutch coast, off Callantsoog. The three-man crew perished in the crash.  

The leader of the trio of Douglas 'Boston' aircraft that attacked Valkenburg airfield failed to open his bomb bay doors soon enough.

Thus, no bombs were dropped and the all the German airfield received was a brief 'strafing' of the planes' machine guns.  

These three aircraft succeeded in bombing the hangars, administrative buildings and an enemy fighter on the ground was set on fire. 

Eight of the surviving A-20's flew back to Swanton Morley airfield where the weary and shaken crews were debriefed and greeted by Generals Eisenhower and Eaker. But there was no sign of Captain Kegelman. Then, while the airmen, ground crews and reported clustered around the Generals at the control tower, a lone Boston was sighted, limping low toward the airfield. Cheers went up, for Kegelman had managed somehow to bring his plane and crew home on one engine. Later that evening General Eisenhower wrote an immediate recommendation for Kegelman to receive the Distinguished Service Cross. 

USAAF photograph 70273AC.

"From left to right: Sgt. Bennie B. Cunningham, T/Sgt. Robert L. Golay, Lt. Randall M. Dorton, Jr., And Major Charles C. Kegelman, stand before the type of plane which they flew on low altitude raid July 4, 1942. Major Kegelman received the Distinguished Service Cross". 

Note that Captain Kegelman was also promoted to the rank of Major after this raid.

Although the 'Independence Day Raid' had inflicted only minimal damage on the Germans for the loss of two American crews and one RAF crew, USAAF General 'Hap' Arnold regarded this mission as a success. 

De Kooy attack casualties / Aircraft #3 (USAAF crew) / AL677 / MQ-'P’ 

Gunner: Sergeant Robert Lawrence Whitham   

Killed in Action his body washed up a week later and he was buried on the Allied plot in Harlingen. 

He was exhumed after the war and possibly reburied in Neuville-en-Condoz (Neupré) American Cemetery. Recovered to US between 1948-50. Present burial location unknown.

Regrettably no photograph of him has (yet) been found.

Bergen Alkmaar attack casualties / Aircraft #3 (USAAF crew) / AL741 / MQ-‘V’

Bergen Alkmaar attack casualties / Aircraft #2 (RAF crew) / Z2213 / MQ-‘U’