208076 F/O J. Clayton Kellond Royal Canadian Air Force 408 Squadron. from:Hamilton, Ontario On the 6th of November, 1944 when the RCAF 6 Group made a daylight attack on Gelsenkirchen as part of a force approximately the same size as that which had gone to Bochum. This town, seven miles north-east of Essen, was noted chiefly for its hydrogenation plants and its coking industry. Two top priority synthetic oil plants and two very important power stations lay within the boundaries of the district. Other industries included the manufacture of iron and steel goods and sulphuric acid.
The attackers, accompanied by a fighter cover of Mustangs and Spitfires, swept along over 10/10ths cloud from the Dutch coast in a very high tail wind. Cloud thinned out as they approached the target area and they found gaps which enabled them to identify the aiming point and check the accuracy of the markers.
Early bombing was concentrated and soon there was a heavy black pall rising above the cloud tops at 10,000 feet. When smoke and dust obscured the target indicators, the Master Bomber instructed crews to attack any targets of opportunity that were visible in the area. The bombing of the town itself caused intense fires north and south of the Central Station marshalling yard and in the vicinity of the Hessler district. South of the Industrie Hafen, the steel casting works of Vereinigte Stahlwerke were damaged by fire.
Defences were formidable on the route through the Ruhr with very accurate heavy flak, but at the target antiaircraft fire was only moderate and this time losses were lighter, only two Canadian aircraft failing to return. One of these carried a veteran Goose Squadron crew, all of whom were taken prisoner: - F/O J. C. Kellond
- K. I. Durk
- W. A. Gillmeister,
- F/S T. G. McLeod
- D. M. Davies and
- Sgt. R. C. Robinson
- Sgt W. A. Woods
When released Kellond reported:
“Perfect trip to the moment we were hit. Flak burst under a/c resulted in controls being hit somewhere at a vital point. No visible damage could be seen by the gunners. The flak came from the front lines which at the time were west of the Rhine River. It was a clear day with about 1/10th cloud. I gave orders for the bombs to be released immediately a/c was found to be out of control. Second flak burst came before bombs were gone but outside of causing a/c to rock no one was hurt. Crew were then told to bail out and they carried this out in perfect order. I managed to keep a/c straight and level until all the boys had made their jump. With throttles completely back a/c would not drop its nose and it finally stalled and went into a spin. From that point on things are not too clear as I had no time to waste in getting out.”
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