156 Squadron Mission Details
Target: Koblenz Mission Date: 29/12/1944 Mission Comments: 10 aircraft detailed for a daylight raid on KOBLENZ. The target was soon obscured by smoke which together with haze made it difficult to assess bombing. F/O W.H. Cornelius was wounded by flak which penetrated his left heel. His engineer was also hit.
Rego	Type	Captain	Departed	Over Target	Height	Returned	Flight Time	Comments	ORB Slide
PB621	Lancaster III	W/C FALCONER	12:08		16400	16:48	04:40	Primary Visual Marker. Target attacked at 1458.18 hrs from 16000 ft. No marking seen from Mosquitoes, except for one possible Cookie burst. So many transmitters were left on that the M/B could not be heard until after he left the target. We could not identify exact A/P on bombing run until we ran over it, so retained TI's. No other bombing observed. Moderate H/F, predicted, later becoming barrage, in some cases accurate. One photo attempted. Bomb Load 3 x 250 TI Yellow A. 3 x 250 TI Yellow LB A. 8 x 1000 MC TD 025	DSCF0155
ND929	Lancaster	F/Lt SPINLEY	12:12	15.02	18200	16:42	04:30		DSCF0155
NE120	Lancaster	F/Lt NEAL	12:13	15.05	18000	16:50	04:37		DSCF0155
PB517	Lancaster III	F/Lt FREEMAN	12:15	15.04	18000	17:04	04:49		DSCF0155
PB560	Lancaster	F/Lt TODD	12:16	15.05	17000	17:02	04:46		DSCF0155
PB505	Lancaster III	F/Lt JAMES	12:06	15.03	17800	17:05	04:59		DSCF0156
PA966	Lancaster	F/O CORNELIUS	12:07	15.06	17000	17:00	04:53	[ED] - See DFC Commendation for F/O Cornelius regarding this mission. On the subsequent night the remainder of his crew were killed when they were taken on the next mission by the C/O Falconer.	DSCF0156
PB186	Lancaster III	S/L LETFORD	12:09	15.01	18000	16:53	04:44		DSCF0156
PB701	Lancaster III	F/Lt PELLY	12:10	15.03	18500	16:55	04:45		DSCF0156
PB611	Lancaster	F/Lt HISCOCK	12:17	15.02	18000	16:57	04:40		DSCF0156