After this operation the squadron went on "cab rank", sending up a section of four about every half hour, from 0910 to 1255 hours, to work with a forward control post ("Limejuice") which had crossed the Rhine with the Army the previous night. 

The procedure was that the formation leader after becoming airborne would get in touch with the F.C.P. which would assign the pilots some target that required immediate attention. If the Army had no job for them the pilots could patrol for targets of opportunity. The first "cab rank" effort led by F/L Bill Davis set a good example. While looking for a target, the three pilots saw some "rocket merchants" doing a job on flak posts in a village near Rees. As there was still "plenty of flak" after the rocket boys had finished, the three Tiffies nipped in and dropped their cluster bombs. Fires broke out and the volume of flak diminished appreciably; one post at least had been wiped out. 

Intentionally left blank

Intentionally left blank

One of the pilots then had to turn back with engine trouble, but the other two continued their hunt for flak targets. Just then the airborne troops started coming in and Davis noticed some guns near Haldern open fire. He turned
his cannons on the flak post and silenced it. 

On the next sortie F/O Staff Marlett took his section down on some guns that were firing on our troops crossing the river at Rees, but haze and a smoke screen obscured the results. Paratroops and gliders were still coming in through copious streams of light and heavy flak which gave the pilots more targets for strafing;(1) once again the effect could not be determined.

(1) The Typhoon pilots, after witnessing the flak to which the Dakotas and paratroopers were exposed, "took off their hats to these fellows who must have a lot of intestinal fortitude.

Staff's aircraft received a direct hit which put the brakes out of action so that the Typhoon went of the end of the runway when he landed. On the third "cab rank" by F/L Vic Le Gear's section flak guns were again the target, an 88 mm. post being wiped out by direct bomb hits and a light 20 mm. gun being well raked with cannon fire. The mobile 88 gun had been "wreaking havoc" among the Dakotas before "Limejuice" called the Typhoons down on it. Then
"the gun and crew were no more and that practically finished heavy
calibre flak resistance." 

Attacking another gun in the area, F/O Hugh Fraser was shaken to receive a 40 mm. shell in the fuselage just back of the cockpit. He got back to base safely, but the squadron's next sortie was less fortunate. F/O William Anderson
led the "cab rank" section on a prearranged target, another flak concentration near Dingden, which was bombed with unobserved effect because of the haze and smoke. Some light flak greeted the Tiffies as they pulled out and Andy cruised around trying to pinpoint the guns. He spotted them and called to his two companions to follow him down. F/O Hallford took a squirt at some flashes that came from a forest below and when he next looked for his leader he saw the Typhoon diving earthward on its back. It disappeared into the haze. Andy had completed 65 sorties when he was lost. 

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