When I was dropping Windows
On July 24th.1943 I made my first operational trip in a Halifax of 51 Sqdn. as "Second Dicky " to F/Lt Irwin. The target was Hamburg and it was the first raid that Window was ever used operationally. It was extremely unusual to make a trip as a second pilot but was occasionally done and , in my case was used because of the difference in operating procedures to my previous low level daylight trips on the first Mosquito sqdn, 105.
We had known of Window for a long time previously to this date but had been stopped from using it until we had gathered enough strength to make it more useful to us than to let the Germans have the use of it. Our Bomber losses had been so great that it was decided to use Window and July 24th. was the first night of what became the terrible firestorm destruction of Hamburg with Bomber Command going by night followed by the American "Mighty Eighth Air Force by day. The effect of Window was devastating to the Defences. The German Radio was assiduously monitored by us and there were arguments springing up between Controllers and the Night Fighters as they were being directed to sectors where there were supposed to be hundreds of bombers and were reporting that they could not find them. There were even accusations recorded of "Cowardice" and German Pilots being told to report immediately to their Commanding Officers on landing. Several reports of the swamped Controllers used foul language just prior to switching off and the equivalent of "What a F...... night this has been " coming over the air from the bewildered Controllers was monitored many times back in England.
The Window was in bundles and we put them down the Flare chute at predetermined locations given to the various Groups at Briefing. I was chucking them down just as we approached the target which was already burning fiercely from the Pathfinder's marking and was visible from over 100 miles away already. Other groups had been putting it down all along the route and the Germans were really caught and were reporting that there were hundreds and hundreds of bombers in the stream.
It was a great success but the counter reaction was swift and cost us very nearly the same as when we had not been using it. They brought the "Wild Sow " scheme in to use and threw up every fighter they had including their Day fighters and concentrated on illuminating the target with masses of searchlights concentrating to make a blanket of light around 15,000 feet. The bombers were silhouetted against the light and the Fighters were up around 25,000 feet and were diving down as they picked up the stream coming over the target.
One of the most effective uses of Window was on the eve of the assault on the beaches on D-Day a few Pathfinder Lancasters gave the Germans the effect of a huge fleet approaching by a beautifully worked out pattern of dropping Window and doubling back to give the impression that this fleet was approaching a different point to the landing at around twenty knots.
It usually fell to the W/Op to chuck the Window out and the Flare Chute was the means of dropping it. The bundles were tied so that the slipstream broke them open as they came out of the aircraft and gave the impression of countless aircraft to the radar. The timing and the position was usually very well planned and each group was given a sector where they were responsible for the Window coverage with the Target being covered by the maximum. For any of you who are old enough to remember making your own paper chains at Xmas, a strip of "Window" was just about the size of one of the links that we used to use for decoration.
I hope that this helps you out as to what it was like. It certainly made the continuation of the Bombing of Germany possible.