Intentionally left blank.

Again on 15 June three operations were completed between dawn and mid-afternoon, all directed against the same target, a small double bridge across the Orne near Amaye, across which enemy armor had been passing on its way to the battle around Caen.  Shortly after 5 a.m. a Wing formation of 27 Bombphoons left Hurn to make the first attack, but despite their concentrated dive-bombing the bridge was still standing when the pilots turned homeward.  As soon as the aircraft had been re-armed, the Wing had a second go at the target; this time there were many near misses which probably damaged the bridge - but it was still standing. Early in the afternoon the three squadrons tried once more, using 1,000 lb. bombs this time. "Once again No. 439 broke into a wild melee of diving and zooming Typhoons over the target area and after orbiting to await our turn we whacked in to the attack through a sea of ack-ack.  The actual bombing was made from 5,000 to 2,000 feet and resulted once again in a succession of very near misses which looked promising, But as the smoke cleared away, the damned thing was still standing in one piece." 

The pilots were confident, however, that the bridge and its approaches were unserviceable . On the previous attacks there had been considerable light and heavy flak opposition, and this time one of No. 439's aircraft "copped a packet".  As F/O J.W. Ross pulled out of the target area a burst of heavy flak from Caen airfield hit his Typhoon, smashing the tail and setting the engine on fire. Jake baled out before the aircraft crashed, and floated down near the front lines.  Unfortunately he landed on the wrong side and was taken prisoner. WO2 (Warrant Officer 2^nd Class) W.A. Gray was posted in to fill the vacancy in the Squadron.

F/O J.W. Ross (Photo source: 439 Sqn archives)

Duff weather on the 16^th limited operations to one attack against a supply dump at Vendes, south-east of Tilly.  Despite heavy cloud over the area F/L Tommy Dadson brought his formation onto the target through a convenient break and, guided by red smoke shells fired by the Army, made a successful attack. Under clearer skies on the 17^th, S/L Norsworthy’s pilots turned again to bridge-busting, repeating the program (and the results) of two days previous.  The target this time was another "stubborn" structure across the Dives River at Cabourg,  The first formation of eleven took off at 0510, while it was still dark, and flew through clouds to the objective. A strong north wind was blowing and this, coupled with a low cloud base, resulted in bombing that "was not up to its usual standard". Most of the missiles overshot slightly, one pair hitting the western approaches of the bridge while another nicked the south side of it. On the second attempt (with 1,000 lb. bombs) there were four bursts at the western end that apparently caused no major damage.  On the third try the eastern approaches were knocked out by twenty-four 500 lb. bombs - but no direct hits on the bridge itself. Nor was the Squadron's luck any better the next day. One operation against a bridge across the canal north-east of Caen was foiled by a low ceiling over the target, and a second later in the day ended in "no direct hits".  The pilots went down in "a terrifically steep dive" from 9,000 feet to 2,000, and got all their l,000 lb bombs within 100 feet of the bridge; but against this type of target a near miss is almost as good as a mile.

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