History of Squadron

 

Chapter IV

The Battle of Normandy

June - August  1944

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On the 12th there was a decided improvement in the weather and that evening No. 439 took part with No. 440 in a show which helped to compensate for the frustration of the four previous days. Led By W/C Judd, the two squadrons dive-bombed a vehicle concentration at Varaville, north-east of Caen, and made every missile count.  No. 439 attacked first, and as the smoke started to clear "enemy M.T. began to scurry out of the rubble like ants of an anthill." The road through Varaville was blocked, the village practically destroyed, and several fires were started.  The next evening W/C Judd led the whole Wing to attack "targets of opportunity" in a area area just west of the village. Although the three squadrons plastered the area "pretty well" with about seventy 500 lb. bombs, no specific targets could be distinguished.

By this time the Typhoon Wing was preparing to move across the Channel.  On 9 June some tents had been struck in readiness for the move of the advance echelon, and on the 12th and 13th nearly all the remaining tents were packed and loaded, together with equipment, personal kits and other gear. The pilots moved into the Wing Headquarters buildings (Nissen huts) for accommodation and messing while waiting for "The Day" to come.

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Meanwhile operations continued as long as the weather permitted. The 14th was a good day, with only a bit of scattered cloud, and three attacks were carried out. The first, led by Tommy Dadson, was a close support job to destroy a pocket of resistance holding up our troops at Lingevres, two miles west of Tilly. The Typhoons, attacking from 1,000 feet because of low cloud, smashed 1k bombs into the woods, while No. 247 Squadron battered the area with rockets. Dadson had a narrow escape when a 20 mm slug struck the main-plane of his aircraft, sliced through the cockpit and severed the trim control cables. Right after lunch the Squadron went out again together with No. 440 to dive-bomb more enemy troops and guns in the woods at Demouville, east of Caen.  Then late in the evening, at 2150 hrs, Hugh Norsworthy led another formation on a bridge-busting foray south of Cabourg. The initial target assigned to No. 439 had already been destroyed by the time the Tiffies arrived, so they bombed another bridge nearby "with good results."

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