British Forces

Night sortie

Martin Baltimore Mark V, FW332 'R' "Redwing", of No. 13 Squadron RAF, taxies out for a night sortie over the Gothic Line at Cecina Airfield, Tuscany, Summer-Autumn 1944. The bomb-tally on the nose of the aircraft indicates that it had carried out a total of 80 operations, 66 of which were at night. A former Lysander army co-operation squadron, afterwards equipped with Blenheim combining the old role with the new role of bomber unit, after the participation to operations in North Africa from November 1942,in February 1944 the No 13 Squadron began to move to Italy, going operational with Martin Baltimore on 1 April 1944. With the American-built bomber the No 13 took part in attacks on Italian communications, and then switched to the night interdiction role-attacking enemy ground units. During the year 1944 the No 13 Squadron changed continuously his bases (Cecina from 18 July to 16 October) following the front’s advance to North. The same one during 1945 when the Baltimore was replaced by another American-built aircraft, the Douglas Boston. At the end of the war in Europe the No 13 were at Forlì, Romagna, in front to the Adriatic, but the Italian last base (12 May-13 September 1945) was Aviano, North-East Italy. Victor Sierra