Fairly good weather
throughout the day, but it was exceedingly windy. Today was the
first day in the history of 439 Squadron that four operations
were carried out. It kept the fellows on their toes the whole
day - at least they felt that they were giving their full
support to the forces in France.
Eight pilots were routed
from their beds early in the morning to do an early
"Op". They took off at 06:15 hrs carrying 500 lb bombs
and proceeded to Pihem where an attack was made on a Noball
target. One aircraft made an early return due to engine trouble.
No flak or enemy aircraft were encountered.
The second operation was
also on the same target for which 6 aircraft took off at 15:30
hrs led again by F/L Ken Fiset. The same type of bombs were
carried with which better results were achieved on the second
trip. No enemy aircraft or flak were encountered.
Again the aircraft took
off, 6 in number for an operation on a Noball target near St
Omer this time at 18:50 hrs. the 500 pounders that were dropped,
All found the target area with possible direct hits. The above
operations were all conducted from Manston where our pilots were
briefed and aircraft bombed up, and interrogated on the first
two shows. The third interrogation was done at Hurn.
The last operation of
the day was performed by 8 aircraft from our airfield led by S/l
Norsworthy. The take-off was at 21:00 hrs and the aircraft
carried 500 lb bombs to their objective which was a small
railway bridge near St. Julien. Direct hits and near misses were
scored.
Around midnight, F/L
Thompson, one of 143 Wing remaining Engineers received
information that our aircraft were to be equipped with one long
range tank for the following morning. In no time at all our
maintenance personnel were on the job. They worked all night and
had most tanks fitted by early morning. Lack of spares prevented
total fitting.
| A/C
Type & Number |
Crew |
Duty |
Up |
Down |
|
Column is illegible
M |
F/L Fiset
F/O ?????
F/O ?????
F/O ?????
F/O
Hewson
F/O Hogg
F/O Rassenti F/O
Porritt
|
Dive Bombing
|
????
(2) |
???? |
|
Details
of Sortie or Flight
The
Squadron, F/L Fiset leading, set out to attack the
Noball installation located at Pihem. (Next
sentence is illegible). Eight
aircraft were airborne but two were force d to turn
back early due to engine trouble. (Next
sentence is illegible). It
was not observed where the 12
hour delay bombs released
struck. No flak or enemy aircraft were observed
throughout the attack. All aircraft returned safely to
Manston.
Webmaster's
Notes:
(1) According to the Logbook of F/O GW
Hewson, this was a ramrod mission near St Omer. Having
dropped his 2 x 500 lb bombs he notes that results were fair.
(2) Although on my copy of the 541 the mission duration
is illegible, Geale's
log recorded 1.25 flying hours for this show.
|
| A/C
Type & Number |
Crew |
Duty |
Up |
Down |
|
Column is illegible
M |
F/L
Fiset
F/O Brown
F/O Johns
F/O Hewson
F/O Monson
F/O Hogg
|
Dive
Bombing
|
15:50 |
16:30 |
|
Details
of Sortie or Flight
Six
aircraft from this Squadron operating from Manston for
the day, struck again at Noball target at Pihem as
part of a group
effort by 143 Wing. The same route to the target was
followed and this time the bombing results were
better. Four near misses were made on one of the
target buildings and only one pair of bombs struck
outside of the target area. As they were ????
???? when the
front cowling of the aircraft flown by F/O Hewson tore
off during the dive. All aircraft returned safely to
Manston.
Webmaster's
Notes:
(1) According to the Logbook of F/O GW
Hewson, this was a ramrod mission near St Omer. Having
dropped his 2 x 500 lb bombs he notes that results were good.
Strangely he makes no mention of the above flight incident.
(2) Another discrepancy is that although
the 541 shows the mission duration was only 40 minutes, Geale's
log recorded 1.0 flying hours for this show.
(3) F/O GW
Hewson's log also records an aircraft transfer
between Manston and Hurn, flying Typhoon M.
|
| A/C
Type & Number |
Crew |
Duty |
Up |
Down |
|
Column is illegible
R |
F/L
Fiset
F/O Brown
F/O Johns
F/O Hewson
F/O Hogg
F/O Rassenti
|
Dive
Bombing
|
18:50
(5) |
20:10 |
|
Details
of Sortie or Flight
Briefed
again for a third crack at the Noball installation
near St. Omer
. Our six serviceable aircraft at Manston carried 500
lb bombs ?????
across the Channel for the third time this day. Some
difficulty was experienced in finding the target
because of a sheet of low cloud which was just moving
in over the target area. The attack resulted in all
bombs exploding in the target area with some believed
to be direct hits or very near misses on the
installation ?????.
No flak or enemy aircraft were seen, all aircraft
returned safely to their home base.
Webmaster's
Notes:
(4) In his logbook, F/O GW
Hewson notes that these were 11 sec delay bombs. Carrying out a
level run, he scored direct hits on the railway bridge.
(5) Another timing discrepancy in that
Geale's log indicates that they were airborne for 1 hour & 20
minutes.
(5) 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.
|
Tiger
Squadron