WHEN MOSQUITOS CRASHED THE NAZIS’ PARTY

As their grip on Europe loosened, Nazi Germany appointed 30 January 1943 as a national day of celebration to bolster morale. The date marked the 10th anniversary of Adolph Hitler’s rise to the Chancellorship, and German high command planned a day of rousing speeches on international radio. But in England, the RAF saw the occasion as an opportunity to stick a thumb in the eye of Germany’s top leaders and break the facade of Nazi invincibility.

Most of the RAF’s bomber fleet was unsuited for a mission so far from home. The 1 100 mile (1 770 km) round-trip flight to Berlin, in broad daylight, would span five hours of exposure to flak and enemy fighters. Only one aircraft in the RAF’s inventory had a chance. Mosquito fighter-bombers, faster than the other planes in the fleet and able to sneak in at 250 feet, instead of flying at 25 000 feet, could elude German ground defences to drop bombs and raise havoc amid the festivities. This aerial smash and grab operation would be sudden, terrifying, and intimate.

A trio of Mossies from the No. 105 Squadron led the way. They bullied their way into Berlin’s airspace just as Hermann Göring – the German military chief, or Reichsmarschall – began his radio speech to the nation. Bomb blasts and the distinctive rumble of the Mossies’ Rolls-Royce engines overhead forced Göring off the air for more than an hour.

Later that day, as Nazi propaganda leader Joseph Goebbels stepped to the podium to address Nazi party members at Berlin’s Sportpalast, three more Mosquito bombers from the No. 139 Squadron arrived. As the Reichsminister struggled to speak, the British planes whirled through the skies outside the arena, and the booming response from German anti-aircraft fire brought pandemonium to the ceremonies. One Mosquito went down – the sole British loss of the mission – but the United Press lauded what they called a ‘daring raid’ on Berlin.