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http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/frame.htm

April 27th, 1942

UNITED KINGDOM: The first operational sortie is made by the de Havilland Mosquito night-fighter. Armed with four 20mm guns it can reach 407 mph. (22)

Minesweeper HMS Fitzroy is mined and sinks within 10 minutes 40 miles ENE of Gt. Yarmouth at 52 39N 02 46E. It is believed that she may have struck a British mine, although this area was extensively mined by both sides. (Alex Gordon)(108)

Destroyer FS La Combattante (ex-HMS Haldon) launched. (Dave Shirlaw)

NORWAY: U-657 was damaged in an Allied air raid at Trondheim. One crewmember was injured. (Dave Shirlaw)

GERMANY: The RAF bombs Rostock for the fourth night in a row. 70% of the city has now been destroyed and 100,000 are homeless.

CZECHOSLOVAKIA: Theresienstadt: 1,000 Jews are deported to their deaths at Belzec and Sobibor.

U.S.S.R.: (Sergey Anisimov)(69)Baltic Fleet, Ladoga and Onega Flotillas: Shipping loss. TS “Svir” is sunk by aviation, at Leningrad.

MANCHUKUO: In the worst mining disaster in history, 1,527 miners have died at the Honkeiko colliery.

CANADA: In the House of Commons in Ottawa, a plebiscite was held to determine the necessity for conscription. After much discussion and political infighting, it was decided that conscription would be implemented “if necessary.” The RCN was almost entirely a volunteer force and the conscription issue played no part in the history of the Canadian Navy.

Patrol vessel (ex-fishing vessel) HMCS Camenita commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)

U.S.A.: Washington: Roosevelt places the US economy on a full war footing.

Minesweeper USS Candid laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)

A little more on that Luftwaffe Capt.(then) Herbert Ihlfeld...quite an airman.

"Herbert Ihlefeld (1 June 1914 in Pinnow, Pommern – 8 August 1995 in Wenningsen, Lower Saxony) was a German World War II fighter ace who served in the Luftwaffe from 1936 until the very end of World War II in May 1945. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and its higher grade Oak Leaves and Swords was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. He claimed 132 enemy aircraft shot down; 9 in the Spanish Civil War, 67 on the Eastern Front, and 56 on the Western Front, including 15 four-engined bombers and 26 Spitfires. He survived being shot down 8 times during his 1000 combat missions."