Library Reference Number: 108
Ops are Scrubbed
In RAF parlance, "ops are scrubbed" means that all flying operations for that night had been cancelled. This seldom happened, and the following account describes my only experience of this event.
The Ploesti oilfields in Romania were crucial to the German war machine. It was their principal source of fuel, and its defences were second only to the Rhur. The American B-24s and Fortresses during the day, and the RAF Wellingtons at night had waged concentrated attacks on the oilfields, refineries, and the associated rail network. The Germans were also using a large number of barges on the River Danube to transport oil.
The Wellington aircraft on several occasions sowed magnetic mines in the Danube, dropping them at very low altitude about 50 feet above the river - a highly dangerous operation at night. The authorities informed us, that those mine-laying tactics had cut the flow of fuel to Germany by over 30%.
Ploesti is most often remembered for the disastrous first raid launched against it by the USAAF on August 1, 1943 - an event now known as "Black Sunday". 177 B-24 Liberators took off from their base in North Africa on a low level mission to bomb the refineries at Ploesti. Only 33 of the 177 aircraft returned to base in condition to fly again. 540 airmen lost their lives. It was, and continued to be, the worst loss ever suffered by the US air forces on a single mission. The refineries continued to operate at near full capacity following the raid.
The enemy had commenced to repair Romanian oil refineries by 'cannibalising' damaged installations. It was, therefore, important to destroy all undamaged equipment in refineries which were temporarily or permanently out of production. This then, was the reason for additional successive raids on Ploesti refinery equipment even if it was already damaged. Precision bombing was difficult however, due to thick, black smoke screens set off by the defending forces on theground.
The crews of No.70 Squadron based at Foggia, Italy, were called in for briefing, and we were surprised to find the target was again Ploesti. What caused some apprehension was that take-off time was 23.30 hrs. The Ploesti flights usually lasted between 6 - 7 hours, which meant that as dawn was breaking on the homeward flight, we would be crossing the Yugoslav coastline with the Adriatic Sea before us - prime targets for the Luftwaffe. It was well-known that this exposed area was a happy hunting-ground for German fighter aircraft, allowing them to pick off Allied aircraft with crews already exhausted by operational tasks.
Our aircraft were lined up ready for take-off, when a very strong crosswind started to blow across the runway. This was a very unusual event. Over the R.T. {radio}, the controller announced that take-off was delayed for 15 minutes. At the end of that delay, the wind was still blowing strongly, and take-off was delayed for one hour. This meant that as dawn broke, our Wellingtons would still be well inside Yugoslavia on their homeward flight, and would be extremely vulnerable to fighter attack.
The crews were then taken back to the Mess-tent, where the atmosphere was tense. The hour passed slowly - the wind was still blowing, then the field-telephone rang. There was complete silence, as someone who was not flying that night picked up the phone, listened, put it back down, turned to us and said "Tough Luck Chaps, but ops are scrubbed."
The general feeling was that the 'Guardian Angel' had sent that providential crosswind to prevent another possible disaster.