The 27^th was another busy day with four rail cutting expeditions and a fighter scramble. (1) 

(1) Because of the enemy air activity the Typhoon wing for a time kept sight aircraft in readiness at the end of the runway, prepared to scramble immediately a call came.

On the first show F/O Johns' group of six scored six direct hits and six very near misses on the tracks near Venlo despite poor visibility, 10/10ths cloud, and "a goodly amount" of flak. Then they between went hunting for trains and along the line Geldern and Kempen they found three which they left "in a state of serious disrepair." A vehicle which had the misfortune to be on the highway near the railroad was set on fire.

The second "ramrod" did not score any cuts, although all the bombs were near misses. There was some consolation, though, in strafing moving targets which resulted in two flamers, two damaged MET, and
a small river boat Smoker. 

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0n the third operation a rail line near Geldern was severed by two direct hits, a locomotive was heavily damaged, a large passenger bus was riddled with cannon shells, and a freight train was well battered. As Nick Gray pulled up from his first attack on the train his number two saw glycol was streaming from the radiator. He informed Gray of this, but Nick made a second pass at the train nevertheless before turning homeward with his section. The Typhoon
lost height steadily. then the white glycol trail changed to black and the aircraft caught fire and spun into the ground. His companions had repeatedly told Nick to bale out but presumably in his eagerness to wait until he was over friendly territory he hesitated too long. It was a tough break. With 57 trips to his credit Gray was more than half way through his tour and was about due to go on leave. The day after he was lost the pilot officer' s commission that he had been eagerly awaiting finally came through too late.

The last rail cutting mission on the 27th was a failure as the four pilots became split up in the low clouds and only one was able to locate the target. While F/O Cote was cutting through the cloud fringe trying to find a landmark he chanced to look back over his tail and was "just a little surprised" to see two FW-19Os sitting there. Jettisoning his bombs, he broke to starboard, dodging a brief burst that the Jerries fired before they ducked into the clouds. Cote wasted no time in joining up with his number one and without further incident they returned safely. 

 

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