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This
Day In History
Summary
of Events for No.
439 (CAN) Squadron
as
recorded in the 439 Squadron Operations Record Book
for
24
October 1944
B-78
Holland
The sky
was fairly clear this morning, but a heavy ground haze prevailed and
towards lunch a heavy breeze sprang up. The haze persisted throughout
the day. We finally managed to set up the volley-ball net and
horse-shoe pits that should receive a little attention during non-op
periods. R.87186 WO 1 Church, S.A. pilot, arrived today from 83 GSU
making the strength 26 pilots and having Church as the only
non-commissioned officer. Capt. Johnson, the 143 Intelligence A.L.O
and F/L H. Massey, the Squadron Intelligence Officer gave the pilots a
lecture on the various types of ground signals such as, the panels of
Army vehicles and tanks, smoke shells, flares and flags utilized by
the army to identify themselves, especially in the forward areas. This
was primarily for the benifit of the new pilots of our Squadron.
Detail
of Work Carried Out by No. 439 RCAF
Squadron
as
compiled by in the 439 Squadron Operations Record Book Form
541
| A/C
Type & Number |
Crew |
Duty |
Up |
Down |
| JR506
MN547 |
F/O
Stelter J.
F/O
Fraser J.C. |
Weather
Recce |
08:00 |
09:00 |
|
Details
of Sortie or Flight
F/O
Johnny Stelter with F/O Fraser as number two, took off on a
weather recce. They set course from base, climbing to 7000 feet
and flying a course approximate 030 degree Mag., they reached
Zwelle, Holland and then followed the coast west to Amersfoert
then turned south to base. They reported bad haze, visibility
from three to five miles with two tenths thin cloud at 7000
feet.
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| A/C
Type & Number |
Crew |
Duty |
Up |
Down |
| MN665
MN345
MN691
MP143
PD492
MN894
PD551
?????? |
F/O Laycock M.P.
F/L Lambert C.A.
F/O Rassenti N.H.
F/O Carr J.
F/O Bernhart P.N.
F/O Cote J.
F/O Hiltz R.A.
F/O Martin J.G. |
Dive
Bombing |
09:10 |
10:15 |
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Details
of Sortie or Flight
F/O
Laycock led the Squadron to attack and cut the railroad running
north of Almelo, Holland. The aircraft were armed this time with
1000 lb bombs (.025 nose & tail fused) for the job. The
reason for this was that the aircraft were already armed with
these 1000 lb bombs for an Army Support job that didn't
materialize. The weather was good with a little cloud, however,
there was a bad haze extending to 7000 feet and limiting
visibility to one or two miles. The Squadron reached their
target, did an orbit and then went into their dive, bombing from
south to north from 8000 feet with a moderate dive (50 degree).
At least one pair of bombs hit the line, possibly a second pair
and all were close. Due to the poor visibility, the last three
pilots of Blue Flight lost the Squadron while forming up, they
had some difficulty in getting a Homing and eventually arrive
back to base safe.
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| A/C
Type & Number |
Crew |
Duty |
Up |
Down |
| MN124
MN482 |
F/O
Smith I.W.
F/O
Laurence R.H. |
Weather
Recce |
14:45 |
15:35 |
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Details
of Sortie or Flight
Two
pilots led by F/O Smith took-off on a weather recce to ascertain
the suitability for operations. After taking off, they set
course for Nijmegen, climbing to 10,000 feet to get over a large
layer of stratus cloud covering a wide area, extending from base
to Nijmegen at a height of 8000 feet. The section then proceeded
north past the Rhine for about five minutes, the visibility
being one to two miles with no signs of increasing. A 180 degree
turn was done and they returned to base and landed pronouncing
the weather entirely unfit for operations.
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