| <Previous Page | Next Page> |
December 1944
P/O Pat Flynn and his navigator P/O MH Michael relax on a rare form of transportation (PL 42937)
By this stage of the War, air superiority was held by Allied forces over the coast of Europe, with very few sorties of enemy fighters being encountered. Thus, enemy fighter opposition was normally light on anti-shipping missions and what there had been was usually taken care of by the speedy Beaufighters and Mosquitoes. However, on a strike that took place on 7 December, about 25 Me.109s and Fw.190s intercepted the Beaus, Mossies and their Mustang escorts of the Banff and Dallachy Strike Wings. "Due to an error, presumably in navigation, Banff (wing) leader led the formation over Gossen A(ir)/F(ield) and approximately 25 S(ingle)E(ngined)F(ighters), Me.109 and FW.190s, came up to intercept. Mustang fighters intercepted and prevented serious damage to our a/c. 6 E(nemy)/A(ircraft) and 2 possibles was the Mustang score for the loss of one Mustang. 2 Mosquitoes, and 1 Beau of 489 Sqdn are also missing S/404 was attacked by a single Me 109; P/O HF Flynn was uninjured but W/O MH Michael (above) received minor wounds when a cannon shell exploded in the Navigator's cupola. No shipping was attacked and our formation s(et)/c(ourse) for base."
P/O Roy Rumble, navigator and pilot P/O Bert Ramsden (PL 42926)
The last strike of 1944 occurred on 9 December when a patrol, led by F/L Wainman, and included 144 and 455 Squadrons along with Mustangs from 315 Squadron. The patrol was to proceed to the vicinity of Utvaer when they found the unescorted 678-ton Norwegian coastal express Havda and dived to attack. One Beaufighter seriously miscalculated his run carried its attack so close that it struck the vessel, tore off a wing, turned over on its back and crashed into the sea, killing the pilot, F/O AK Cooper and navigator WO CF Smith in "X" NV173. This was only the second mission for the crew who had joined the squadron less than a month previously. Two explosions shattered the ship, hit by 30 RPs, and it was found 30 minutes after the attack to be beached on the shore, burning fiercely.
Christmas arrived and the squadron spent the day as follows:
"
Two sittings were arranged (at 1200 and 1300 hours) for a very fine Christmas dinner which was served in the traditional manner by the officers. During the early part of the afternoon, nearly all Canadians on the station visited Canada House where they received a free issue of chocolate bars, candy and cigarettes. Later in the afternoon, a large number of the aircrew and groundcrew personnel gathered in the flight crew room where an enjoyable couple of hours were spent." |
It was with high spirits that the squadron welcomed 1945. The year that everyone hoped would be the last one for the war.
(L to R) S/L Bobby Schoales, W/C 'Teddy' Pierce, S/L 'Chris' Christison and F/O 'Bud' Bolli. This photo was taken just before Christmas, 1944. All four members were on their second tours with 404 after completing a short stint as OTU instructors. Christison was killed during a strike on 23 March 1945, his 55th operational strike.