Intentionally left blank

On 26 April the Squadron again carried out two dive-bombing attacks, the first in the morning in company with No. 440, and the second four hours later with the whole wing.  The first target, a "Noball" south of Abbeville, was the most distant which the pilots had yet attacked and they had to refuel (2) at Tangmere on the way home. (This trip lasted 1:45 hours; most sorties were about 1:10 to 1:20.)  Despite considerable cloud over the V-1 site, several direct hits were scored.  The second target was a 1,000 feet long viaduct near Bolbec, inland from La Havre.  Diving from 6,000 feet to 2005 the 23 Tiffies released their 500 lb. bombs and headed for the coast at low level, strafing "everything that came in their way,”  Light flak hosed up at them, particularly around Etretat, but all the aircraft got home.

Another wing show that was attempted on the 29th was made abortive by dense cloud over the target and the bombs were jettisoned in the Channel. No. 439 had now been on operations for a month and had eleven missions under its belt.  The first three, carried out in the last days of March, were "familiarisation" fighter sweeps; the eight in April were all dive-bombing shows, three against V-1 sites, three against bridges, and two abortive. In all 27 tons of bombs had been dropped on enemy targets. Normally the formations consisted of eight aircraft, divided into two sections of four; sometimes a third section or half-section was attached as fighter cover for the bombers.  The usual tactics were to come in over the target at 8,000 to 10,900 feet and peel off to 5,000 or 6,000 to release the bombs. Against small targets, such as bridges, the dives were made from 5,000 or 6,000 down to 2,000 feet.

Intentionally left blank

With the coming of spring and sunny (or occasionally sunny) days sports flourished on the airfield to while away the free hours.  Softball naturally was the most popular, but horseshoes and volleyball also had their enthusiasts, as did the less dangerous "sport" of quiet sun-bathing.