This Day In History

Summary of Events for  No. 439 (CAN) Squadron 

as compiled by  C20089 F/L M. Harrison  in the  439 Squadron Operations Record Book Form 540

for

22 February 1945

B-78 Holland

The ground haze early this morning was caused by the warm solar beams on the frosty ground, even so the enormous operational activity commenced quite early in the morning. Thirteen operations totalling 52 sorties were carried out today, and these were the greatest number of operations ever carried out by this Squadron in one day.  The claims for the day were: 

  •  28 rails cut

  • 3 railway flat cars destroyed

  • 1 AFV destroyed

  • 1 HDV damaged

  • 2 tanks destroyed and

  • 1 road blasted.

We were tickled to death to have J21837 F/L Babe Swingler arrive yesterday on posting to take command of "A" Flight. He is a youthful character with an abundance of good humour and is extremely popular. But fate ultimately interrupted his second tour on his second trip of the day which he was leading. It was a tremendous blow to the Squadron as we had unshouldered a lot of responsibility onto Babe knowing that with his reputation as an operational pilot, he would go a long ways in achieving good results for the Squadron. 

F/O's Art Derouin and Andy Anderson took off for Megeve, France for a spot of leave after a considerable amount of pestering in the last few days to get these vacancies.

Three of our kites are unserviceable today.

 

Detail of Work Carried Out by  No. 439 RCAF Squadron 

as recorded by J20602 F/O R.H. Laurence, J29881 F/O W.G. Davis,  and C20089 F/L M. Harrison in the  439 Squadron Operations Record Book Form 541

A/C Type & Number Crew Duty Up Down
MN144

PD461

PD451

RB324

 

F/L Shaver L.C.

F/L Jackson S.C.

F/O Saunders A.W.

F/O Bullock J.W.

Dive Bombing

09:20 10:25
Details of Sortie or Flight

The first show of the day, led by F/L Shaver, was a Ramrod on the Geldern, Wesel rail line, just south of the battle area. The boys carried 1000 lb. bombs with 11 second delay tail fuses. They went into the area via the Reichswald Forest, flying at 10,000 feet then turned sharply to the south, approaching the track at right angles. The bombing was very successful with five cuts, and one tank and one truck destroyed at A090282. The latter were parked on a siding on the railway line. No flak was noticed. Some ground targets were reported by "Kenway" in the Dorsten area, but on arriving there they noticed a hospital train on the track, but they did not attack them. The aircraft returned safely to base.

Claims - Rails - five cuts, Flat Car - 1 destroyed, AFV's - 1 destroyed.

 

A/C Type & Number Crew Duty Up Down
RB456

SW446

RB198

RB326

 

F/O Davis W.C.

W/O Roach R.J.

F/L LeGear V.H.

F/O Johnson D.E.

Dive Bombing

09:25 10:45

10:25

10:35

10:40

Details of Sortie or Flight

Rail interdiction was the vogue for today. F/O Bill Davis led four aircraft against the Wesel-Dorsten line. 1000 lb. bombs, 11 second delay tail fuses were carried. They took off at 09:25 hours and climbed to 10,000 feet heading for Wesel. The visibility, except for low-lying haze, was good. Midway between the two towns the Section went into echelon starboard and bombed to port towards Wesel, in a 50 degree dive. Two cuts were made with 2 near misses at A3643. Pulling up from the dive the Section became involved with some Spitfires and Typhoons and became separated. Bill Davis circled the target, while Nos. 2 & 3 mistook F/O Johnson who was returning to base with engine trouble. Despite the mix-up of aircraft all returned safely to base. No flak was encountered.

Claims - Rails - 2 cuts & 2 near misses.

 

A/C Type & Number Crew Duty Up Down
RB206

RB510

RB377

SW443 

 

S/L Beatty J.H.

W/O Horrocks L.J.

F/O Cleghorn D.G.

F/O Kubicki W.

Dive Bombing

09:30 10:45
Details of Sortie or Flight

S/L Beatty led four aircraft on a Ramrod into the Tactical area, to cut the rail line between Dorsten and Borken. They were carried 1000 lb. bombs with 11 second delay fuses. The Flight went straight into the target and on starting the dive the leader noticed that he had mistaken  the rail line for the road running west of the rail line. 

No.2 (W/O Horrocks) however, had already dropped his bombs on the road with a near miss as the outcome. The remaining three aircraft bombed the rails obtaining two cuts and two near misses at A4354 without interruption from flak. They carried out an armed recce in the Geldern-Keffeld area with no movement noticeable. All aircraft returned safely to base.

Claims - Rails - 2 cuts and 2 near misses.

 

A/C Type & Number Crew Duty Up Down
 RB281

SW420

MP151

RB477

F/O McBride A.G.

F/O Harrison J.L.

F/L Swingler B.P.

F/O Roberts J.

 

Dive Bombing

11:15 12:20

12:15

12:15

12:15

Details of Sortie or Flight

F/O Al McBride led four aircraft on a unique job of bombing a train carrying tanks on the line at Issum. They carried 1000 pounders with 11 sec. delay tail fuses. After crossing the Reichswald Forest area, they altered course to starboard and approached Issum which is east of Geldern where they attacked the train with seven flat cars and each carried a tank, from 8000 to 2000 feet and scoring direct hits causing large explosions and setting some flat cars on fire. 

Following this, they set course for home, where they landed safely and unmolested by flak.

The claims for this insignificant Section is as follows: - Flat cars, 2 destroyed, Tanks, 2 destroyed, Rails, - 2 cuts. 

 

A/C Type & Number Crew Duty Up Down
SW446

RB324

PD451

RD461

F/L Shaver L.C.

F/O Bullock J.W.

F/O Saunders A.W.

F/L Jackson S.C.

 

Dive Bombing

11:35 12:55

 

Details of Sortie or Flight

Four aircraft, on another Ramrod, carrying 1000 lb. bombs with 11 second delay tail fuses, took off on another rail cutting job, into the Coesfeld-Ahaus line, F/L Shaver leading the show. The boys crossed the bombline at 8000 feet letting down slightly to 7000 feet, then went into bombing formation (starboard echelon) and peeled off to port from the dive. Three cuts were claimed at A5879 and one large truck was strafed. No flak was noticeable. The aircraft returned to base, all landing safely.

Claims - Rails - 3 cuts, HDV's - 1 damaged.

 

A/C Type & Number Crew Duty Up Down
RB456

RB510

RB198

SW443

F/O Davis W.G.

W/O Horrocks L.J.

F/L LeGear V.M.

F/O Kubicki W.

 

Dive Bombing

11:50 13:00
Details of Sortie or Flight

F/O Bill Davis led off another rail show at 11:50 hours. Four aircraft were used with 1000 lb. 11 second delay tail fused bombs being carried. The weather was clear and the visibility was good in the target area. While passing east of the Reichswald Forest at 11,000 feet, an explosion was seen at about 2000 feet and an aircraft that looked like a Spitfire headed in flames for the ground. Lots of flak was seen but it was aimed at other aircraft. The Coesfeld-Burgsteinfurt line was bombed at A7389 but no hits were seen. One road cutting the line a A7389 received a direct hit. No flak observed. The aircraft returned to base via  the Reichswald Forest and landed safely at 13:00 hours. 

Claims - one road blasted.

 

A/C Type & Number Crew Duty Up Down
RB206

RB326

RB377

MN144

 

S/L Beatty J.H.

W/O Roach R.J.

F/O Cleghorn D.G.

F/O Johnson D.E.

 

Dive Bombing

12:10 13:15
Details of Sortie or Flight

A four plane Ramrod led by S/L Beatty, became airborne at noon hour, into the Coesfeld-Ahaus rail line. They carried 1000 lb. bombs with 11 second delay tail fuses. The visibility on the ground was rather bad, making the pinpointing rather difficult. After searching the area the rail line between  Ahaus and Coesfeld  was bombed at 5778. No hit or cuts were claimed. There was no flak over the target. As the Squadron reformed, (No. 3) F/O Cleghorn, reported an unidentified twin engine aircraft about a mile ahead and slightly below them. Our boys, flying at 8000 feet, promptly took after this aircraft of unknown origin, and on reaching the Reichswald Forest they recognized it as a Marauder, much to their disappointment. The Flight returned to base, all aircraft landing safely.

A/C Type & Number Crew Duty Up Down
MP151

SW443

RB281

SW420

 

F/L Swingler B.P.

F/O Roberts J.

F/O McBride A.C.

F/O Harrison J.L.

 

Dive Bombing

13:55 14:55

15:05

15:05

15:05

Details of Sortie or Flight

F/L Babe Swingler, led four aircraft on a Ramrod, to cut the rail lines between Borken and Stadtlohn. The aircraft each carried 2 x 1000 lb. bombs with 11 second delay tail fuses. the boys reached the lines near the small town of Weseke, but due to bad visibility, no results could be observed. No flak was noticeable in this area. They then carried out an armed recce, just north of the Rhine on their way home. 

F/L Swingler noticed a lone transport between Haldern and Mehr, north-west of Wesel. He made one orbit and then the Squadron dove down. When F/L Swingler was about 2000 feet, all hell seemed to break loose. It was evidently a flak trap, judging by the amount of 20 MM which seemed to fill the sky. Unfortunately F/L Shaver never had a chance, and although no explosion was seen, F/O McBride noticed a small column of black smoke on the ground in the area at Map reference A1552. 

The remaining three aircraft formed up and set course for base all landing safely. This was a very bad loss to the Squadron, as "Babe", as the boys called him, had just arrived the day before, to start his second tour as our "A" Flight Commander. Very little hope is held for his return.

No claim for this operation.

 

A/C Type & Number Crew Duty Up Down
MN144

RB324

RB510

PD461

 

F/L Shaver L.C.

F/O Bullock J.W.

F/O Saunders A.W.

F/L Jackson S.C.

 

Dive Bombing

14:25 16:00

 

Details of Sortie or Flight

F/L Shaver, led four aircraft on a Ramrod into the Enschede area. They carried 1000 lb bombs with 11 second delay tail fuses. They were to do a double bombing effort, that is, the first two aircraft were to bomb the tracks running south of Enschede and if uneventful, the other two were to bomb the same track. If the first two were successful, then the second two were to bomb the tracks running east of Enschede.

On approaching the area, the leader noticed that there were no tracks running south of Enschede apparently removed, although they encountered quite a bit of 40 MM in this area. The four aircraft then dive-bombed the tracks between the two towns of Gronau and Langenhorst, obtaining three cuts at V5502. A tank car was also strafed, but the only claims made by the Squadron were rails cut in three places.

 

A/C Type & Number Crew Duty Up Down
RB456

RB477

RB198

RB326

 

F/O Davis W.C.

F/O Kubicki W.

F/L LeGear V.H.

W/O Horrocks L.J.

Dive Bombing

14:35 16:10
Details of Sortie or Flight

F/O Wee Willie Davis led another rail interdiction mission on the Zolle-Almelo line. Once again four aircraft were used and 1000 lb. 11 second delay tail fused bombs carried. The aircraft took off at 14:35 and headed for the Reichswald Forest climbing to 8000 feet. The haze was rapidly becoming worse. No flak was seen over the battle area. They headed north for the target but found the area covered with 10/10ths cloud at 4000 feet. They then about-turned and headed for the Deventer-Almelo line.

At this point Bill Davis had R.T. failure so F/L Vic LeGear took over lead. An awkward shallow dive to get under the cloud made in an easterly direction resulted in good bombing. All bombs landed on or beside the rails and three cuts were claimed at V0609. They were met by considerable light flag from Holten. It was accurate but no one was hit. The aircraft returned to base via the Forest and landed safely but short of fuel at 16:10 hours.

Claims - 3 rail cuts, 2 near misses.

 

A/C Type & Number Crew Duty Up Down
RB206

SW446

RB377

PD451

 

S/L Beatty J.H.

W/O Roach R.J.

F/O Cleghorn D.G.

F/O Johnson D.E.

Dive Bombing

15:30 16:35
Details of Sortie or Flight

S/L Beatty led four aircraft on a show to cut the Dorsten-Haltern rail line. As before they carried 2 x 1000 lb. bombs with 11 second delay tail fuses. They went in over the Reichswald Forest and after passing the Rhine, cut down to the south. The flight dived from 8000 feet to 2000 feet. Black 2, W/O Roach had his coupe top blown open in the start of the dive, and had to release his bombs at 5000 feet.

The bombing was fairly good as there was no interruption by flag over the target area. On setting course, it was not noticed that S/L Beatty had two hang-ups. He jettisoned both south of Borken with unobserved results. All aircraft returned safely to base. 

Claims: Rails - 2 cuts in one place at A5847.

 

A/C Type & Number Crew Duty Up Down
RB510

RB281

SW443

SW420

 

F/L Shaver L.C.

F/O Harrison J.L.

F/L Roberts J.

F/O Saunders A.W.

Dive Bombing

16:40 17:55

17:50

17:05

17:50

 

Details of Sortie or Flight

On one of the last shows of the day, F/L Lyall Shaver, led four aircraft on a Ramrod into the Enschede area on the line east of the town of Gronau. The target was to be a line of tankers numbering around nine on the rail line east of the town of Gronau. They carried 1000 lb. bombs with 11 second delay tail fuses. After passing the Reichswald Forest, they encountered poor weather, there being 10/10ths cloud at 4000 feet north and north-east of the Forest with 5/10ths cloud at 7000 feet and poor visibility.

However, on flying into the area of Enschede and finding the weather unserviceable, they jettisoned their bombs over what was believed to be in the Almelo area with unobserved results due to 10/10ths cloud. They then did an armed recce of the battle area but visibility was very bad so the lads returned to base, all landing safely. No claims were made.

 

A/C Type & Number Crew Duty Up Down
RB456

RB477

PD461

RB324

 

F/O Davis W.G.

F/O Kubicki W.

F/O LeGear V.H.

W/O Horrocks L.J.

Dive Bombing

17:05 18:10

 

Details of Sortie or Flight

To finish off a big day, F/O Bill Davis led a bomb line show with the intended target the ferries at Rees. The four aircraft carried 1000 lb. bombs with 11 second delay tail fuses. They took off at 17:05 hours into a mist-filled sky and climbed to 11,000 feet. They found the area east of the bomb line was completely covered with low cloud. 

Bill Davis' R.T. failed him once again so F/L Vic LeGear took over. The area to the south was clearer so they headed for the Wesel-Geldern line. From echelon port they dived westerly at 35 degrees from 11,000 feet to 6000 feet pulling up starboard. Three sets of bombs cut the line cleanly and the fourth set fire to an unidentified object alongside at A1333. No flak was seen over the target though some light flak was tossed up near Geldern. The aircraft landed safely at base at 18:10 hours,

Claims - 6 rail cuts.

 

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