This Day In History

Summary of Events for  No. 439 (CAN) Squadron 

as recorded in the  439 Squadron Operations Record Book

for

05 June 1944

 R.A.F. Hurn

Cloudy all morning with a fairly strong breeze becoming milder in the afternoon with scattered cloud. An operation was carried out on a Radar Installation at St. Peter's Port on the Island of Guernsey in the early morning. Eight of our aircraft loaded with 500 lb. bombs participated. All bombs appear to have burst in or near the target area.  

We had the misfortune to loose J8146 F/L Johnny Saville on this operation. In spite of the ASR search that was made very shortly after, no trace of him was found. A signal was received posting in J9078 F/L Ken Fiset to fill the vacant Flight Commander's post.

The news which every man of the Squadron was anxiously awaiting has been received today with the greatest enthusiasm . The pilots were briefed at Hurn Intelligence on the particulars of the invasion and the groundcrews were given the information by the Station Commander, W/C Hillock late at night. The spirit of the lads on hearing the address knew no bounds and they had the greatest difficulty suppressing their joy throughout the speech.

 

Webmaster's Note: The 541 Form for the month of June 1944 is extremely illegible, and difficult to read, and may entail a trip to Ottawa to get a better copy out of the Directorate of History. Hopefully theirs will more legible.

In the meantime, illegible text is indicated by a series of  question " ? " marks.

 

Detail of Work Carried Out by  No. 439 RCAF Squadron 

as compiled by in the  439 Squadron Operations Record Book Form 541

A/C Type & Number Crew Duty Up Down

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F/O Allen

F/O Hogg

F/O Laycock

F/L Saville

F/O Smith

F/O Scharff

F/O Stitt

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F/O Stetler

F/O Brown R.A.

F/O Brown J.

Dive Bombing

08:30

09:30??

 

Details of Sortie or Flight

Having received confirmation of the Photo Sect the last raid on the Radar Installation at St Peter's Fort was 75% complete, this Squadron set out to finish the job by braking over the  ??????? in the northeast corner of the target area. Carrying two nose fused (instantaneous) 500 lb.  ?? bombs each , the Squadron led by F/L Saville ????? the highly defended target in a long dive from 11,000 ft. to 3,000 ft in an easterly direction . All of the bombs appeared to burst on or near the target itself. Beginning of next sentence partially illegible  and this is my best guess at interpretation....... A large explosion was reported in the ???? about  a mile offshore and at the time it was believed to have been a bomb. F/L Saville was not seen after the dive and it was later presumed that his aircraft had been hit by the intense flak and failed to recover from the dive. Next  sentence also  fragmented  and appears to read as..... The remaining aircraft & pilots returned undamaged.

Immediately upon their return, a section of 4 aircraft led by F/O Burton was dispatched to search for traces of the missing aircraft. The search was unsuccessful. During the course of the search a lighthouse between the Islands of Guernsey and Al????? was seen to undergo a minor explosion with no apparent cause. The aircraft flown by F/O "Flak-Bait" Stetler was struck in the radiator by a heavy chunk of shrapnel. All aircraft & pilots returned safely.

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