Thin
scattered stratus cloud with a slight breeze throughout most of the
day. The bulldozer has commenced filling up the bomb craters at our
dispersal and is in the process of constructing a perimeter track that
will pass through our present site.
Three
operations were carried out today during which we lost one of our
strongest and most experienced pilots J.21959
F/O Johns of Loon Lake, Sask. He was a brilliant individual who
would probably have been our next Flight Commander and was very
popular with both the pilots and airmen. To date he had completed 76
Operational Sorties totalling 70:40 hours excluding this last
operation.
J.18959
F/L W.D. Burton had a mishap on the morning show when his bombs, 11
second delays, exploded instantaneously causing damage to the
monocoque, port main fuel tank and starboard mainplane, making it a
Cat AC.
F/O
J.H. Stitt proceeded to England by air for a Fighter Leaders Course at
Millfield, and following which he will commence his leave
| A/C
Type & Number |
Crew |
Duty |
Up |
Down |
| MN353
MN665
MN345
MN989
MN574
MN691
MN765
PD492 |
F/L
Burton W.D.
F/L
Saunders W.L.
F/O
Brown J.A.
F/O
Carr J.
F/O
Burgess C.L.
F/O
Cote J.
F/O
Swingler B.P.
F/O
MacDonald R.H.
|
Dive
Bombing |
10:45 |
11:50 |
Details
of Sortie or Flight
The
Squadron of eight aircraft went after railway embankment just
east of Praest at A.0459 with 500 lb. bombs (11 second delay).
The rails were cut with at least two direct hits. The bombs
carried by F/L Burton and F/O Burgess went off instantaneous (11
second delay) and caused considerable damage to F/L Burton's
aircraft as well as damage to F/O Burgess's aircraft. A reconnaissance
was made and it was found that the marshalling yards at Goch
were still unserviceable. Those at A.1239 were still out and
those at N.9830 have been repaired. We managed to get one flamer
during the reconnaissance. The Squadron ran into quite a bit of
light flak and noticed that there was a possible dump or
barracks at E.7418. Balloons were also observed at 7000 feet at
A.0753.
|
| A/C
Type & Number |
Crew |
Duty |
Up |
Down |
| MN765
MN870
MP145
MN345
MN869
MN969
MN989
MN691 |
F/O
Johns R.A.
F/O
Martin W.G.
F/O
Smith I.W.
F/O
Hiltz R.A.
F/O
Hogg J.E.
F/O
Smith R.V.
F/O
Henderson A.L.
P/O
McBride A.C. |
Dive-Bombing |
13:25 |
14:25
14:50
'
'
'
'
'
' |
|
Details
of Sortie or Flight
The
Squadron of eight aircraft dive-bombed the railway line at
A.3342. At least two direct hits were observed which cut the
tracks. There were three bright blue flashes from wood just
south of target. J.21959 F/O R.A. Johns was hit by flak whilst
flying towards Speelberg, near Remerich,
and his aircraft blew up when it crashed into a steeple in the
town of Speelberg, Germany, at E.9864. The MET claims for this
trip were: one bus - smoker, one MET - smoker. There were ten to
fifteen stationary MET facing north of Remerich
at E.9761 but were not attacked. All other aircraft returned
unharmed to base.
|
| A/C
Type & Number |
Crew |
Duty |
Up |
Down |
| MN870
MN691
MN581
MP136
MN345
MN869
MN989
MP145 |
F/O
Burgess C.L.
F/O
Hiltz R.A.
F/O
Swingler M.P.
F/O
MacDonald R.N.
F/O
Brown J.A.
F/L
Saunders W.L.
F/O
Henderson A.L.
F/O
Carr J. |
Dive-Bombing |
16:25 |
17:20 |
|
Details
of Sortie or Flight
F/O
Burgess led the Squadron of eight aircraft, with 500 lb. bombs
(11 second delay) on the railway junction at Dieren (E.8884).
The dive was made from 6000 to 1000 feet with the first six
pairs of bombs dead on. The last two undershot somewhat but were
nicely on the line. There was a thick haze up to about 5500 feet
and the visibility was very bad. We encountered a bit of flak
from Arnhem, but no aircraft were hit.
|
Tiger
Squadron