Rush bombsight task. Why?

[WATU]

A UK National Archives file had a short document buried in it. On 16 July 1943 the bombsight developers were given a task. Advice was sought on a suitable precision bombsight that could be fitted to a Lancaster squadron for a mission to be flown at 22,000 feet. It had to be supplied, fitted and training done within three weeks. There is no specific information on the mission and there are no subsequent papers on whether a mission actually took place.
Any thoughts on what the proposed mission might have been? My best guess is one of the German capital ships with Tirpitz being favourite..

 

[Crimea_River]

Tirpitz was my first thought but it's just a guess.

 

[EwenS]

July / Aug 1943 Tirpitz, Scharnhorst & Lutzow were based in Altafjord in northern Norway, which was beyond the reach of Bomber Command from Britain. The other big ships were in the Baltic as training ships.

Much more likely seems Peenemunde. Having been identified as the development base for V1 & V2, Bomber Command launched Operation Hydra on 17/18 August 1943, a month after the date of your document. Harris commented post war about how practice raids reduced the average bombing error from 1,000yds to 300yds. But they ended up going in at only 8,000ft to ensure accuracy.

Operation Hydra (1943) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[WATU]

July / Aug 1943 Tirpitz, Scharnhorst & Lutzow were based in Altafjord in northern Norway, which was beyond the reach of Bomber Command from Britain. The other big ships were in the Baltic as training ships.

Much more likely seems Peenemunde. Having been identified as the development base for V1 & V2, Bomber Command launched Operation Hydra on 17/18 August 1943, a month after the date of your document. Harris commented post war about how practice raids reduced the average bombing error from 1,000yds to 300yds. But they ended up going in at only 8,000ft to ensure accuracy.

Operation Hydra (1943) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Peenemunde was my reserve answer. I thought that would be a suitable target for a mass attack at, say, 8000 feet, as you describe. Maybe they hoped a precision high level attack would catch the scientists in the labs and more vulnerable rather than in shelters given more notice from air raid warnings.
The request included a suggestion that 4 stabilised automatic sights b used plus 17 vector sights. No explanation is provided for that mix. The SABS would be more accurate but was less available.
After setting out the options the recommendation was for 4 SABS Mk IIA (three available but a 4th could be finished) and the Mk XIV as the vector sight. The Mk XIV was only designed for up to 20,000 at that time but a mod could be done within the time to reach 22,000 feet.