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The first of three missions on the 7^th was a fiasco because the leader's compass went haywire and the formation, hopelessly lost, could not pick out any landmarks through the haze to identify the target. The next sortie was a complete contrast. Encountering strong enemy resistance in a village east of Vire, the Army whistled up the Tiffie Wing to help clear the obstacle barring their advance. Diving through a curtain of flak puffs, the three squadrons made a "beautifully concentrated" attack, which threw a dense pall of dust and smoke over the village.  Then the Squadron bombed mortar positions by a village near Bretteville where our troops were fighting their way southward from Caen.

Again on the 8^th there were three sorties to blitz a headquarters chateau, strafe vehicles, and knock out some guns. Of the three tasks only the first was successfully completed. The headquarters target, located in a large chateau near Clari Tizon on the banks of the Laize, was attacked by the whole Wing through an intense screen of heavy and light flak. The ack-ack did not affect the pilots' aim though, and No. 439 alone scored six direct hits with twelve more bursts close by. The armed recce in search of MT could find no targets - the haze was very bad - and the pilots deposited their bundles on a woods with unobserved results. The landing at Lantheuil after this sortie was quite hazardous because of the clouds of dust hanging over the runway, but one by one the Typhoons got down safely. The third sortie that evening was ruined by a combination of bright sun and haze. The dense haze made it difficult to pick out the target, near Bretteville-sur-Laiee, and once the pilots had started their bombing dives they lost sight of it because of the dazzling reflection of light. The bombs were dropped in the nearby Foret de Cinglais.

While eight pilots were engaged in this frustrating mission F/O Ivan Smith had been involved in a miraculous experience.  En route to the target his engine faltered and Ivan turned back towards base. Almost immediately the motor packed up completely and the Tiffie went down in a long glide to crash land in a field near St. Germain d'Ectot.  Before coming to rest, the aircraft clipped through a line of trees, slicing off both wings, and slid through a couple of hedges. The pilot stepped out of the cockpit uninjured !

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