"Mosquito aircraft conducting a precision low level bombing raid" by C.E. Turner, 1942

Catalogue ref: INF 3/1273

This image shows RAF Mosquito aircraft conducting a precision low level bombing raid on a target somewhere in Nazi occupied Europe. It was claimed that the 2-man twin-engined Mosquito could carry the same bomb load to Berlin as the 4-engined American Flying Fortress with its crew of 11.

On 31 January 1943, 105 Squadron became the first Mosquito unit to bomb Berlin. Hermann Goering, head of the Luftwaffe, was due to address a parade in the morning and the raid effectively disrupted it. 139 Squadron then flew over Berlin in the afternoon and gave the parade being addressed by Dr Goebbels the same treatment. This very effectively gave the lie to Goering's boast that no enemy aircraft would fly unscathed over Berlin.

Some of the most famous bombing raids of the war were due to the precision attacks by the Mosquito from roof-top height. Among these were raids on the Gestapo Headquarters in Oslo, the Central Registry in The Hague, Shell House in Copenhagen, and Amiens Gaol. The Mosquito squadrons were tasked to hit a single enemy building in the middle of a city whilst causing minimum collateral damage. In many cases they didn't fully achieve this but their low-level precision raids had a profound effect on enemy morale.

This image appears to be an illustration for a magazine.