MF136

JR500

MN765

JR521

MN352

MN401

MN989

MN379

F/L Fiset K.J.

F/O Burgess C.L.

F/O Johns R.A.

F/O Swingler B.P.

F/O Smith I.W.

F/O Monson A.E.

F/O Porritt R.A.

F/O Henderson A.L.

F/O Brown J.A.

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10:35

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11:10

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Details of Sortie or Flight

This show was originally scheduled for first light but was necessarily delayed because of a heavy ground fog which lasted until 09:00 hrs. The target for this mission was a large Chateau, believed to be an enemy Headquarters position, at (T066422) one half mile north of Clair Tison and on the east bank of the river Laise. The same target was taken on by the three squadrons of the Wing; 438 first , then ours, followed by 440. Red Section attacked the target at 10:52 hours and Blue Section scattered the remnants at 10:56 hours. 

The target was attacked in both cases from the east to west in a steep dive from 9000 feet down to 2000 ft. Heavy flak was bursting very close to the a/c from the time the leading a/c began it's dive until the last a/c reached the level of the level of the light flak bursts. The heavy screen of flak thrown up by the enemy did not throw the boys off their aim and six bursts were scored on the building itself while all other bombs were in the general target area. Visibility was again limited by a heavy summer haze. None of our aircraft were damaged by flak and all returned safely to base.

MN401

MN310

MN989

JR521

MN870

MF136

MN379

MN765

F/L Burton W.D.

F/O Allen E.J.

F/O Moen R.O.

F/O Laycock M.P.

F/O Smith R.V.

F/L Scharff W.K.

F/O Laurence R.H.

F/O Brown R.A.

F/O Stitt J.H.

Details of Sortie or Flight

These nine aircraft were led into the air by F/L Burton to carry out an Armed Recce over the roads from Falaise-Argentan-Flers-Domfront. Because of an extremely heavy belt of haze, the Recce was carried out only from the Falaise to Agentan. No movement was seen and no flak was thrown up at our aircraft, the woods along the road at Mortroe (U3507) were finally attacked in a dive from 9000 to 2000 feet. No results were observed and no claims made. All aircraft returned to base but experienced considerable difficulty in landing at base because of heavy dust over the runway. All aircraft landed safely, one by one however.

MN870

MN765

JR581

MF136

MN352

MN989

MN665

MN310

F/L Fiset K.J.

W/O Gray W.A.

F/O Swingler B.P.

F/O Smith I.W.

F/O Burgess C.L.

F/O Monson A.E.

F/O Henderson A.L.

F/O Stetler J.

F/O Rassenti N.H.

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20:30

20:45

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Details of Sortie or Flight

The target for tonight was a group of unfortunate German Gunners at the village of L'Abbaye which is quite near Bretteville-Sur-Laize. An extremely thick summer dust haze mad flying difficult and the target was located once but lost in the dive.

Enroute to the target F/O Ivan W. Smith had engine trouble and turned back. The engine (Aircraft JR521) packed up almost immediately and he made a long glide from 10000 feet to crash land in a field near St. Germain d'Ectot (W7763). F/O Smith had trouble setting the aircraft down but finally, after slicing both wings off in a line of trees, the fuselage and cockpit intact, slid through a couple of hedges and came to rest. Ivan climbed out unhurt. He was immediately whisked up by an army  unit and returned to his unit. ⁽¹⁾

The remainder of the Squadron continued on to the target and attacked in a dive from the East from 10000 down to 5000 feet. The combination of the bright sun and haze proved to much, however, and they could not find their target once they had committed themselves to the dive. All 16 x 500 lb MC bombs, nose instantaneous and .025 tail fused, were dropped into La Foret de Cinglais. No results were observed and no movement seen. Some light but ineffective flak was fired at our aircraft from the forest which they bombed. One aircraft was a total loss but all others returned safely to base.

Webmaster's Notes:

(1) It must have been a blow for F/O GW Hewson who was on leave at the time, to learn about the sad fate of his favourite Tiffy. Typhoon "M " (JR521) was flown so often by Geale, that this scribe had begun to think it was his  personal airplane. I wonder what gentle words Geale had to say to Ivan about this incident when he got back from leave.