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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
05
December 1944
B-78
Holland
Heavy
scattered cloud, scattered showers at times. F/O J.H. Stitt left for
England today, on posting following completion of his second tour of
operations. C.22655 F/L R.G. Crosby was promoted to Acting squadron
leader effective yesterday and takes command of the squadron vice S/Ldr
K.J. Fiset, DFC. F/L J.A. Cote has been reposted in the F/L post and
taken command of "B" Flight. Dutch children were entertained
in the Central mess (Airmen's) this afternoon, a day before St Nicolas
Day. Santa Claus was there in full splendor and handed out gifts to
them, thus confirming their belief in old St. Nick.
Of our
16 aircraft only one was unserviceable due to flak damage. Two
operations were carried out today as well as a sector recce, the
latter was for familiarization of new pilots which arrived this
morning. They are J.28164 F/O J.L. Harrison of Fort Qu'Appelle, Sask.
J.37029 F/O A.H. Fraser of Westmount, Que., and J.23864 F/O D.G.
Cleghorn of York Co., N.B. This makes our pilot strength 23 now.
F/O I.W.
Smith, the last of the original of 439 Squadron and who had been with
123 Squadron before it moved to the United Kingdom, is screened from
further operations on having completed his first tour of operations
with 95 sorties, 94:45 operational hours and giving him a grand total
of 629:25 flying hours. he has had a rough time, and met with three
accidents during his tour. The first was when he ran into a bomb
dropped by his Wing leader on landing; the second on landing from
operations with a flat tire that almost caused his Typhie to overturn,
the third was the worst, he was making a forced landing on returning
from operations and his aircraft slid into a forest knocking off both
wings. In view of his age and the strain of flying Typhoons, he is
recommended for doing his second tour on twins.
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 |
| MN144
MN665
PD459
PD478
RB204
MN691
PD492
MN482
PD608
PD554 |
F/L
J. Carr
F/O
V.H.J. LeGear
F/O
A.C. McBride
P/O
B.E. Bell
F/O
R.H. Laurence
W/O
S.A. Church
F/O
W.G. Davis
F/O
W. Anderson
F/O
J.D. Sweeney
P/O
S. Angelini
|
Dive
Bombing
'
'
'
'
'
'
'
Fighter
Cover
' |
09:25 |
10:45
10:40
'
10:45
'
'
'
'
'
' |
Details
of Sortie or Flight
F/L
Carr led the Squadron led the Squadron into a cloudy and windy
sky to bomb the railroad, running north from Coesfeld to Ahaus,
Germany, at a point midway between map reference A.5582. They
carried 500 lb bombs (.025 tail fused) for the show. The
Squadron climbed to 8000 feet over base to get above cloud
which extended over the railway to be bombed. The Squadron found
a pinpoint east of it and then turned about going beneath cloud
which had a base of 6500 feet. A hole in the lower layer of
cloud was discovered and they went down on the track in a
shallow dive. Red one scored a hit at A.579779 but due to
obstructed visibility, no other strikes could be observed. On
climbing above cloud Red two (F/O LeGear) was seen streaming
gas, he promptly returned to base escorted by Red 3; on landing
he found a .5mm shell through his port nose tank making his
aircraft a Cat AC. On the way home, Blue 1 (F/O Laurence) led
the flight down on a train running north about 6 miles south of
Coesfeld, leaving the engine damaged, but refrained from
shooting the coaches which bore Red Crosses. All aircraft
returned safely.
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| A/C
Type & Number |
Crew |
Duty |
Up |
Down |
| MP151
RB198
MN482
PD554
PD459
PD478
MP145
PD461
MN144
RB204 |
F/L
R.G. Crosby
F/O
W. Kubicki
P/O
W. Anderson
P/O
S. Angelini
F/O
J.D. Sweeney
P/O
A.E. Derouin
F/O
J. Roberts
F/O
L.C. Shaver
F/L
J. Carr
F/L
K.F. Sage |
Dive
Bombing
'
'
'
'
'
'
'
Fighter
Cover
' |
12:45 |
14:05 |
Details
of Sortie or Flight
F/L
Crosby led the squadron, armed with 500 lb bombs (.025 tail
fused) to cut the railway running south from Munster, Germany at
A.6266. They formed up and set course, climbing above cloud.
Over the target area they found a heavy layer of cloud and were
unable to find the target. On the return, the railway south of
Coesfeld was distinguishable beneath a thin layer of stratus.
They went down in a steep, but due to the angle at which they
crossed the line, their bombing was not very accurate and only
one possible hit A.623662 was observed. They reformed and
returned to base.
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