On the 20^th an attempt was made to give air support to the hard pressed troops north east of Nijmegen, but low cloud over the target (a pontoon bridge across the Waal) made an attack impossible. Two operations were squeezed in on the afternoon of the 22nd when the skies finally cleared for a short time. Both operations were directed against the area around Cleve, just inside the German border, through which enemy troops and supplies were pouring to counter attack the narrow Allied corridor to Nijmegen. 

On the first show Nos. 439 and 440 led by W/C Judd, were briefed to block a major road crossing in the town, but Cleve turned out to be a much larger town than the pilots' maps indicated and had so many road crossings that it was difficult to distinguish the intended pinpoint. As a result the bombing was scattered over the whole town and only three pairs of bombs were near the desired road junction. The second operation, a strafing show, was much more satisfying. Near Goch one section led by Don Burton attacked a long freight train, knocking out the engine and setting fire to about eight of the cars. 

Intentionally left blank

Intentionally left blank

Some of the cars, the pilots noticed, were carrying armoured vehicles. At the same time F/O Johnny Stitt's section beat up three vehicles on a road a few miles away, and left two of them smoking and the third obviously damaged. Operations from Melsbroek ended with two early morning recces on the 24th over the familiar area around Breda and Gorinchem in south western Holland. North of Breda F/L Monson's formation of nine pounced upon some scattered vehicles which they strafed so effectively that four burst into flames and eleven more were damaged. 

F/O R.W. Vokey, one of the new pilots who was making his third operational sortie, apparently pressed home his attack so close to the ground that he was unable to pull out of his dive before the Typhoon crashed. (1)

(1) Reports on this operation differ in some details. One states that no flak was seen; another says that Vokey's section leader broke sharply when he encountered some flak as they attacked the vehicles. The third pilot in the section reported that he saw Vokey pull up into a steep climb which produced vapour trails the entire width of the aircraft, but he was so intent on concentrating on his own target that he did not see what happened to the other Typhoon.

The second recce formation that morning had to turn back when it encountered heavy rain and low cloud over the target area. On 23 September the Wing began to move forward again closer to the scene of operations. The Squadron struck its tents and loaded the equipment on the truck the next afternoon but heavy rain washed out any thoughts of moving until late the next day when a break in the clouds permitted the pilots to get away to the new base, B.78 at Eindhoven in the Netherlands. The condition of the airfield caused great surprise: bomb craters were everywhere. Of the three concrete runways only one was serviceable, and it had been well pitted before the Army Engineers repaired it. The Squadron dispersal was located in such a mass of bomb holes that it was very hazardous to move about at night. Despite the
"superb" camouflage which the enemy had put on or about the various sites most of the buildings had been so badly damaged that it would soon be necessary to erect huts to give the personnel some shelter
against the damp, cold weather that was setting in. Tent life was becoming very bleak. Eindhoven was quite close to the battle lines, a fact that was impressed upon the Squadron shortly after its arrival when an enemy fighter popped out of the clouds to make a strafing run across the field. A nice welcome!

 

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