OPERATION CORONA

The story of a participant in CORONA, Claire Dyment was written by Dr Tim Austin and submitted via SWW2LN Supporter Diana Henry.

OPERATION CORONA was a secret WW2 initiative by the RAF to confuse German night fighters during Bomber Command raids on German cities during WW2. The operation was first launched during the attack on the German industrial centre of Kassel on the night of 22/23 October 1943.

The operation was largely made possible by German Jews who fled Nazi Germany to Britain. These people were very valuable to the RAF, since they spoke German without a foreign accent and were therefore able to countermand the orders given from the Germans’ air defence headquarters, redirecting the night fighters away from the bomber stream, or giving them orders to land immediately at an airfield.

When first confounded by CORONA personnel countermanding genuine German orders, the Luftwaffe responded by replacing male fighter controllers with female ones. The British countered this move by then using personnel of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF).

More details of the operation were given in the January 2021 newsletter of The SWW2LN, free to subscribers – sign up via our Contacts page: CONTACT | secretww2net (secret-ww2.net)  The article then prompted the submission of the story of a participant in CORONA, Claire Dyment. The story,  written by Dr Tim Austin and submitted via SWW2LN Supporter Diana Henry, can be read here on a downloadable pdf.

NB please note: Dr Tim Austin holds copyright for this account and any re-publication requests should be addressed to Diana Henry www.dianamarahenry.com as the author of the forthcoming book Call Me André.

Credits: Dr Tim Austin, Diana Henry, Paul McCue