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The Most Dramatic Aerial Attacks That Changed Military History

Khalid Elhassan January 31, 2023 35 min

A Dramatic – and Unauthorized – Solo Raid Against the Gestapo

Raid - The path of Longchamps's strafing run against the Gestapo headquarters — The path of Longchamps’s strafing run against the Gestapo headquarters. Wikimedia

When the Nazis conquered Belgium, the Gestapo set up a headquarters at 453 Avenue Louise in Brussels. The building soon gained a sinister reputation, as its basement became a torture center for those who fell afoul of the Nazis. They included Longchamps’s father, who was tortured to death there by the Sicherheitzpolizei (SiPo) – Germany’s Security Police, a combination of the Gestapo and the criminal cops.

Longchamps came up with a plan to strafe the Gestapo HQ, but his RAF superiors rejected it time after time. He decided to do it anyhow, on his own. On January 20^th, 1943, he was sent on a normal mission to strafe a railway near Ghent. He took the opportunity to fly to nearby Brussels, to pay the German secret police a visit. Once the authorized mission was over, Longchamps set out to conduct an unauthorized raid.

Bust of Longchamps, erected after the war in front of the former Gestapo headquarters building. History of Manston Airfield

He ordered his wingman back to Britain, and set course for Brussels, about thirty miles away. Longchamps flew low to avoid detection, and reached Brussels without a hitch. He first flew down Avenue Louise, and gunned his engine as he passed the Gestapo HQ to draw the occupants to the windows. He then made a wide loop, and returned to the building, this time with four 20 mm auto-cannons blazing.

Up to thirty Germans might have been killed. Their numbers included the chief of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) – the SS secret police – and other prominent security officials. Longchamp then scattered a bag of small Belgian flags over Brussels, and dropped a Union Jack and large Belgian flag at the royal palace. Upon his return, Longchamps was demoted for his unauthorized raid. He was also awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.