MN894

PD554

PD492

MN870

PD459

MP145

F/L Hogg J.E.

F/O Cote J.

F/O Laurence R.H.

F/O Bernhart P.N.

F/O Laycock M.P.

F/O Carr J.

P/O McBride A.C.

Details of Sortie or Flight

This was the first show in four or five days and found all the boys keen but a little rusty. F/L Jimmy Hogg led the Squadron into the air with 500 lb bombs (.025 tail) slung on their racks with intent to prang the rails running west from Deventer, Holland, at a point about four miles from the town. It was a beautiful morning and the target stood out clearly in spite of a slight haze. The boys approached from the west so as to avoid the town, flying parallel to the track; they rolled to the left and dived from east to west. The leader had barely commenced his dive when the flak came up, first a trickle of 20mm then a dense curtain of 40mm and soon the 88's added to the barrage to create one of the fiercest flak situations the pilots have yet encountered.

It was inevitable that someone would get hit, unfortunately it was J.22835 F/O M.P. Laycock whom fate had decreed: he burst into flames and spun into the ground, presumed killed. The others pressed home the attack however and at least one pair of bombs found their mark with all the others coming very close. The Squadron reformed and returned with an escort of heavy flak as far as the Rhine, but with no further mishap.

MN869

MN691

MN989

PD492

JR500

PD554

MN482

F/O Stelter J.

F/L Lambert C.A.

F/O Rassenti N.H.

F/O Fraser J.G.

F/O Laurence R.H.

F/O MacDonald R.N.

F/O Smith I.W.

F/O Martin J.G.

Details of Sortie or Flight

This show was a return to an old target, well known by most pilots being the railway running north from Almelo, a large Dutch town just west of the German Border. F/O Johnny Stelter led the Squadron on an uneventful trip to the target; it was approached from the west with a wide orbit to the left until they were going south and parallel to the rails. The pilots then rolled to the left in a steep dive (70 degrees). The first two sets of bombs fell to the right of the track due to the effect of a strong west wind; Red three however, was able to correct for this drift and his bombs were seen to hit the rails with all the others falling very closely to the east, in which case they fell into the canal and undoubtedly damaged it to some extent. The flak was intense but had barely opened up when the squadron finished its dive so that it didn't present too much of a hazards they then reformed and returned to base.

MN665

MN869

PD492

S/L Fiset K.J.

F/O Stelter J.

F/L Hogg J.F.

F/O Bernhart P.N.

Details of Sortie or Flight

439 Squadron's long line of successful attacks on bridges was boosted once again with another good achievement by four of our pilots, with S/L Fiset, DFC, leading. This was an Army Support target and Red smoke was to be layed down at 14:45 hours as further identification of the by the Army. The idea of the show was to take out a small bridge crossing the Deurne Canal at map reference E.712125 which the enemy was using to his advantage. They took off with 1000 lb bombs: on reaching the canal, their was no Red smoke, so they went farther south and then returned; this time the smoke was there for them; diving from 8000 to 2000 feet at 70 degrees gave them assurance of a few good hits; after pulling out, an orbit showed them that three pairs of bombs had made direct hits, completely demolishing the bridge.

The fourth pair of bombs fell quite a distance up the canal for no apparent reason. (Red four's face was really red). a little flak was seen and the C.O. S/L Fiset) must have received a hit that loosened a side panel, for in feeling a great rush of air startled him temporarily until he found the trouble, the port panel below the cockpit hanging loose. They all returned and landed safely.

MN482

MN124

JR500

MN691

MN345

MN989

MP145

F/O Smith I.W.

W/O Church S.A.

F/O Cote J.A.

F/O Davis W.G.

F/O Rassenti N.H.

F/O Carr J.

F/O Fraser J.G.

P/O McBride A.C.

Details of Sortie or Flight

The last flight of the day was a return to another familiar target the railway running east to west between Rijesen and Deventer, Holland. This time it was to be attacked at a point eight miles west of Rijesen. The flight, led by F/O Smith, proved to be quite an uneventful trip with moderate success. They approached the target from the west flying parallel to the track and rolled to the left, diving from 7500 to 2000 feet in a 85 degree dive. One pair of bombs from Blue Flight were seen to blow up on the track, the remainder were very close but slightly to the right. The boys returned intact having encountered no flak opposition of any description.