 A group of 24 British Vickers Wellington medium bombers were frustrated by low clouds and fog in their mission to bomb Wilhelmshaven, and they turned for home.The formation attracted the energetic attention of "Luftwaffe" pilots flying Bf 109 fighter aircraft as well as Bf 110 heavy fighters, and more than half of the Wellingtons went down in the North Sea.German "Seenotdienst" rescue boats based at Hörnum worked with He 59s to save some twenty British airmen from the icy water.