Flying Officer RONALD OLAF MOEN

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A few seconds after Allen's aircraft was hit, F/O R.O. Moan's Typhoon was struck in the radiator. Followed by his number two, Dickie turned away to the north-west, losing height rapidly.  He was seen to jettison his hood before attempting a crash lancing near Conde-sur-Noireau, but the aircraft exploded in flames as it struck the ground. There was no hope that the pilot (1) had survived. (Dickie Moan was the Squadron artist and comedian, and the accomplice in many a lively prank of Jake Ross, who went missing in June.)  The thick summer haze and low cloud made it difficult to distinguish and attack the small targets. Like its predecessors No. 439 could claim no direct hits an the first attack, and the squadrons repeated their efforts until darkness put an end to operations. On its second go No. 439 severely damaged the bridge at St. Marc d' 0uilly which the rest of the Wing then finished off, as well as the Taillebois target; but the third bridge was still standing at nightfall, despite many near misses.

On the 13th attacks were directed against enemy forces pulling out of the pocket. Early in the afternoon, after blasting Habloville village along the escape route in the Falaise area with nine tons of explosives, the pilots joined swarms of other Allied aircraft attacking targets on the ground. An "amazing number" of vehicles was seen on roads south of the village, but each one was marked with a large red cross, and the pilots held their fire. F/O Johns spotted one unmarked truck and made a right turn to strafe it.  For a few seconds he took his eyes off the target while he turned and when he brought it into his sights again he noticed two large red creases had appeared on the top of the vehicles. A soldier jumped off the rear end and ran for cover. After a moment's hesitation Royce decided the enemy was abusing the mercy emblem and fired a brief, damaging burst into the truck. The roads were littered with burned-out vehicles, and rocket Tiffies and Thunderbolts were everywhere, strafing orchards, buildings and hedgerows.  No. 439 was just too late for the big show and "had pitifully little to blaze away at."

The Squadron had its turn later in the day when ten pilots were sent out on an armed recce over the roads between Fliers, and Conde-sur-Noireau. Breaking up into three sections, the Tiffies began low-level searches for targets. F/L Burton's Red section set a three-ton truck on fire and clobbered a light tank before flak hit the leader's main-planes, blowing away good sized chunks and spraying the fuselage with shrapnel. Yellow section (F/L Fiset and F/O Ivan Smith) beat up two small armoured scout cars, while Blue accounted for a troop carrier and two flak posts. On the other side of the ledger the Nazi gunners put two of Blue's aircraft temporarily hors de combat.  Near Conde F/O Bernhart had some flak fragments smash into the cockpit and other parts of his Tiffie and thought it prudent to return to base. There an examination revealed; port tire blown, shrapnel holes in one place, the main petrol tank, and gun bays as well as two perforations in the Perspex hood (canopy) near the pilot's head. While Bernhart was flying his disabled aircraft home, Royce Johns and Chuck Burgess had strafed the troop carrier and its 30 occupants, and then turned on a three-gun flak post that was busy firing at Red section.  They silenced two of the guns, but the third gun smashed  two shells into the engine and rudder of Royce's Typhoon, sending it skittering sideways from the impact. (Johns later complained: "Damnit all, I saw the flak post yesterday and forgot all about it." ) The pilot rammed on full throttle and made a careful climbing turn homeward. The rudder controls didn't work, and the elevators had jammed, leaving very little movement in the control column, Nevertheless Royce got his crippled mount home, narrowly avoiding a ground-loop as he landed. One 20 mm. shell had severed the rudder control cables and blown out the metal fairing so that it jammed the elevators. Another bullet had put one cylinder of the engine out of action; a third had ploughed through the port wing from leading edge to aileron, and shrapnel had made numerous punctures in the Tiffie's skin.  Three aircraft was out of action, but all the pilots were safe.

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