Good
cloudless weather in the morning with a haze but improved in the
afternoon. Our Squadron did three operations today. On the first
operation, we were extremely unfortunate in losing the popular J218356
F/O J. Kalen of Sudbury, Ont. It was a profound blow to
every man of the Squadron especially as it is fairly certain
that he was killed when his aircraft exploded over the
target.
F/O
Ray Brown pushed off to England in the afternoon to pick up a
replacement Typhoon from 83 GSU. There was considerably less
enemy activity during the night. We have been advised of the
possibility of the enemy utilizing jet propelled aircraft
against us and the tactics to be adopted in combating them. A
copy of 83 Group instructions on this subject is attached.
| A/C
Type & Number |
Crew |
Duty |
Up |
Down |
| MN555
MN765
JR506
MN575
MN569
MN581
JR362
MN869
MN352
MN989 |
S/L
Norsworthy
F/O
Burgess
F/O
Bernhart
F/O
Kalen
F/O
Stitt
F/O
Burton
F/O
Stetler
F/O
Moen
F/O
Allen
F/O
Laycock
|
Dive
Bombing
|
07:30 |
07:55
'
'
07:45
07:55
'
'
'
'
' |
|
Details
of Sortie or Flight
This
morning, in support of a strong attack through enemy
positions in the Caen sector, this Squadron took off to
attack mortar positions Southwest of Caen, Near Moenil-Frementel
on the small group of buildings there under the leadership
of S/L Norsworthy. The target was attacked in a dive from
West to East from 7000 ft to 2600 ft. Very little flak was
seen throughout the mission. The aircraft flown by F/O
Kalen was seen to explode during the initial stage of the
attack dive. F/O Kalen was believed to have been killed by
the explosion. The aircraft, pilot still aboard, dived
into the forest.
Bombing
results were good, all bombs bursting in the immediate
area. 20 x 1000 lb M.C. bombs - instantaneous nose and
.025 tail fusing were used on this show. All the other
aircraft returned safely.
|
| A/C
Type & Number |
Crew |
Duty |
Up |
Down |
| MN555
MN989
MN765
MN379
MN352
MN581
JR362
JR506 |
F/L
Fiset
F/O
Smith
F/O
Johns
F/O
Brown R.A.
F/O
Monson
F/O
Rassenti
F/O
Porritt
F/O
Brown J.A.
|
Dive
Bombing
|
11:00 |
12:00
11:50
11:35
'
'
'
'
' |
|
Details
of Sortie or Flight
This
was a show of eight aircraft carrying 1000 lb. bombs with
instantaneous nose and .025 tail fusing was intended
to carry out an armed recce of the area about 8 miles
south of Falaise. No movement was seen and the Squadron
bombed various small targets in the area at 1845.
Two cross roads and one large Chateau were damaged by 14
x 1000 lb bombs. F/L Fiset had two hang-ups and
finally jettisoned them into the Channel. On the return
trip F/O Johns and F/O Brown R.A. spotted a small convoy
of light skinned vehicles moving southwest through Bray la
Campagne at 160555. As the convoy was dangerously close to
flak traps at Billy and Ouezy, they did not carry out an
attack on the convoy. All aircraft returned safely.
|
| A/C
Type & Number |
Crew |
Duty |
Up |
Down |
| MN869
MN765
MN665
JR501
JR506 |
S/L
Norsworthy
F/O
Swingler
W/O
Gray
F/O
Stitt
F/L
Scharff |
Dive
Bombing
|
15:30 |
15:55 |
|
Details
of Sortie or Flight
S/L
Norsworthy led this show of 5 aircraft in a low level attack
on a small highway bridge. In this attack 1000 lb bombs with
11 sec. delay fuses were employed. The bridge (194727) just
4 miles south of Cabourg, was attacked from East to West in
a dive from 5000 ft. to 800 ft. At this point blank range,
all bombs were on the target with seven direct hits. The
bridge was completely destroyed. One black staff officer car
proceeding east of the bridge got the works also. All
aircraft returned safely to base.
Webmaster's
Notes:
(1) Rarely are ground crew
mentioned by name in 540 or 541. However the Logbook of F/O GW
Hewson records that he did a "sector recce" in Auster V (675).
This 15 minute mission had two observers on board, Sgt
Cappleman and Sgt Large. No observations were noted.
|
Tiger
Squadron