What did Ken Gatward do with a Beaufighter over Paris?

The plan was to fly low down the Champs-Élysées, strafe the German soldiers parading there and, as an alternative target, attack the Kriegsmarine headquarters. On 5 May 1942, Gatward and Fern began rehearsing the raid by attacking a shipwreck in the English Channel.

On 12 June 1942, Gatward and Fern took off at 11:29 from RAF Thorney Island in heavy rain. They crossed the French coast a few miles east of Fécamp at 11:58; the cloud layer thinned and, by the time they reached Rouen, the sun was shining brightly. Gatward circled the Eiffel Tower at 12:27 and, on that low-level flight, suffered a bird strike on the starboard engine radiator, though he managed to keep flying.

The intelligence on the time of the parade was wrong, so there were no German soldiers to strafe, but Fern dropped the first tricolour down the flare chute over the Arc de Triomphe. Gatward then attacked the Ministère de la Marine, on the Place de la Concorde, and strafed the building with 20 mm cannon shells, scattering the German sentries. Fern then dropped the second tricolour. Gatward set course for home at 12:30 and landed at RAF Northolt at 13:53.