Letter to David Donaldson from the air historical branch

Letter to David Donaldson from the air historical branch

Notes that Donaldson was correct in that he flew the only Halifax on the Berchtesgaden operation. Notes that the author of volume 3 was not at fault with omission of this fact due to the enormous volume of material and that only isolated and noteworthy operations are covered in detail.

1954-10-05

One-page typewritten letter

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EAirMinDonaldsonDW541005

From: Mr. E. Wilson
Air Historical Branch (1)
AIR MINISTRY
77, Cadogan Gardens,
London, S.W.3.
5th October, 1954.
Dear Mr. Donaldson,
Thank you for your letter of 29th September on the subject of the Bomber Command raid on Berchtesgaden. Reference to records fully bears out your statement that a Halifax aircraft piloted by yourself participated in the operation. It was in fact the only Halifax on the raid.
It is suggested however that the author is not at fault in his account of the operation. Although he only refers to the Lancasters it is not to the exclusion of any other type of aircraft – though possibly this might be inferred from the fuller enumeration of types given a few lines earlier for the raid on Heligoland.
I am sure you will appreciate that one of the greatest difficulties experienced with the third volume has been the recording, in the space of some two or three chapters, of the enormous offensive by Bomber Command in the last two years of the war. It has only been possible to quote isolated or particularly noteworthy raids and even these in the interest of compression can be little more than a brief sketch with the barest details given. This I am afraid is the principal reason why reference to the Halifax – and the P.F.F. Mosquitoes – has been omitted from account of the bombing of Berchtesgaden.
May I thank you for your very generous remarks on the history as a whole.
Yours sincerely,
[underlined] S. Wilson [/underlined]
D.W. Donaldson, Esq., D.S.O. D.F.C.
1A, Crescent Place,
London, S.W.3.
[inserted] Thanked 10/10 [/inserted]