Operation Ramrod 16 was a daylight bombing raid undertaken by the RAF against the Hemweg Power Station in Amsterdam. The intention was to destroy the power station and entice the Luftwaffe up to engage the supporting Spitfires. Five squadrons of Spitfires were committed to the operation in support of one squadron of Lockheed Venturas. This type of heavily escorted bombing raid was called a Ramrod. They were a part of Fighter Command's Circus offensive. The raid was undertaken during the late afternoon of 3 May 1943. Background Bomber Command had withdrawn its aircraft from daylight attacks after suffering heavy losses attempting daylight bombing raids over France and the North Sea in the first half of 1940. Since that time Bomber Command operations against German industry were almost exclusively conducted under the cover of night.{{sfn|Maynard|1996|pp=22-23}} However, the German war effort was being supported by factories in the occupied countries as well.{{sfn|Klemann and Kudry...
Peter Vaughan-Fowler Peter Vaughan-Fowler, CVO, DSO, DFC with bar, AFC (18 January 1923 – 24 April 1994) was an officer who served in the Royal Air Force. He is best known for his work as a "special duties" pilot, supporting the SOE and the SIS, carrying agents to and from occupied France. Early life Vaughan-Fowler was born in Lahore, in what was then India on 18 January 1923. He came from a family of aviators. 1 His father, Guy Vaughan-Fowler, had been a naval aviator during The Great War, attaining the rank of Group Captain. 2 He had taken Peter up in an Avro 504 biplane for his first flight when he was still a young boy. 3 Peter's older brother had also been a pilot. On the outbreak of the Second World War he was a 17 year old still at school at the Imperial Service College. 3 A year later he enlisted in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve at Cranwell, where he earned the rating of Leading Aircraftman. 4 While there he volunteered for pilot training...