Fantastic Original WW2 RAF plotting map WEST GERMANY With BERLIN Bombing Raid Operational Markings.

1944 edition of the map, denoting a late war raid.

The map has a number of routes plotted including a route back to Manston in Kent which was used for emergency landings for damaged bombers.

As well as the raid markings and route bearings for Berlin (explained below) it also has a number of cities marked in pencil - Eindhoven, Twenty, Waln, Gutersloe, Schleswig, Lubeck and a cross next to Braunschweig.

Size 110 x 80 cm

Condition of the map is mostly good but with a hole and edge damage on the right hand side. Two panels are browned due to historical folding.

Berlin Markings :

Berlin is hand marked with codes BN, GW and PF on a localized target-grid coordinate map used for night-bombing synchronization, specifically matching the H2S blind-bombing radar grid or visual master-bomber marking boundaries. In German and RAF tactical map overlays of Berlin, these positions represent exact geographical sectors of the city's outskirts:

BN — Berlin-Neukölln / Britz (South Edge), sitting right on the southern perimeter of the city, BN corresponds to the sprawling industrial and residential sector of Berlin-Neukölln and Britz.

This area was highly visible on H2S navigation radar due to the intersection of the Teltow Canal. Navigators used this southern water marker to anchor their bomb runs if they were approaching from the south or executing a wheeling turn back to the west.

PF — Pankow / Französisch Buchholz (North Edge) on the exact northern edge of Berlin, PF corresponds to the northern boroughs of Pankow and Französisch Buchholz (or the Pankow-Friedenthal axis).

Pankow sat directly on the northern approach route. It contained major rail marshalling yards and factories that served as the primary visual and radar "gatepost" for aircraft coming over the Baltic or northern Germany before dropping down into the central Berlin flak corridor.

GW — Gross-West (West Edge) aligns with the massive Gross-West (Greater West) industrial belt. This covered the massive Siemensstadt factories, Spandau, and the heavy engineering plants along the Havel river.