464 (FB) Squadron RAAF in WW2

A Brief History of De Havilland Mosquito Operations

July 1943 to September 1945

The Squadron Badge was awarded in July 1945

Blazon of Arms: A demi-Piping Shrike displayed in Argent and Sable

Link: The piping shrike is a bird indigenous to Australia

Motto: Latin: Aequo animo – With equanimity

History: Formed Feltwell on 1 September 1942 disbanded at (B.58) Melsbroek, Belgium on 25 September 1945.

Battle Honours:

Fortress Europe, 1940–1944

France and Germany, 1944–1945

Normandy, 1944

Rhine, 1945

Aircraft Operated:

Lockheed Ventura

De Havilland Mosquito

464Sqn Operations Jul 43 - Sep 45 Page 2

464Sqn Operations Jul 43 - Sep 45 Page 3

464Sqn Operations Jul 43 - Sep 45 Page 4

On 1 September 1942 at RAF Station Feltwell, Norfolk in the United Kingdom, South African born RAF Wing Commander Ronald Hilliard Young DSO AFC took command of No.464 Squadron RAAF, a new article XV Squadron of the Empire Air Training Scheme. Although the squadron was designated as an Australian unit, its personnel were drawn from many countries and upon formation only about 30% were Australian and the even at War’s end the manning was only 52% Australian. From its formation until early July 1943 the Squadron was equipped with the Lockheed Ventura and conducted operations with Bomber Command from RAF Feltwell and RAF Methwold. This period of the Squadron’s history is detailed in a separate document. In July of 1943 the Squadron moved from RAF Methwold to a new operating base at RAF Station Sculthorpe, Norfolk. The move was part of the squadrons’ transfer from Bomber Command to the recently formed 2nd Tactical Air Force. RAF command knew the Ventura was not suitable for Tactical Air Force duties so the Squadron was withdrawn from operations and in August-September 1943 re-equipped with the superb De Havilland Mosquito. The Mosquito’s versatility broadened the Squadron’s operational repertoire and allowed the crews to partake of Flower, Intruder, Ranger and No Ball missions. Flower patrols were flown to engage and destroy German night fighters; Intruder patrols were flown just after sunset or just before dawn, aimed principally at German bombers; Ranger missions saw individual Mosquitos roaming over enemy territory

seeking targets of opportunity both on the ground and in the air; and, No Ball missions were specifically aimed against the V1 Flying Bomb assembly and launch facilities. Following an intense training period the squadron became operational with Mosquitos on 3rd October, successfully attacking an important power station in France for the loss of no aircraft. For the remainder of the year the squadron carried out ground support operations by day and "intruder" operations during the night, destroying several German aircraft in the air. On 31 December 1943, the squadron moved to RAF Hunsdon, where they formed part of No. 140 Wing along with No. 21 Squadron RAF and No. 487 Squadron RNZAF.

From RAF Hunsdon in early 1944 the Squadron’s efforts were primarily directed against V-1 flying bomb launch sites in NW France and they soon gained a reputation for highly accurate bombing in the face of heavy defences. This reputation resulted in selection for Operation Jericho, which was the first of a number of precision attacks that the squadron made on Gestapo targets in occupied Europe. From April 1944 the role of the squadron changed to that of mostly night Intruder missions and to increase the time over target by shortening transit times the squadron moved from Hunsdon to a new operating location at RAF Station Gravesend. From here the squadron was tasked with striking railway infrastructure, bridges, road transport and convoys as part of the preparations for the Allied invasion of Europe. A total of 151 missions were flown on this task.

In support of D-Day operations during the month of June the squadron flew an impressive 262 missions, including twenty-five missions on D-Day, initially from Gravesend but for the last two weeks of June the squadron moved closer the action by operating from RAF Thorney Island in West Sussex. For the next two few months the tempo increased as 2^nd Tactical Air Force (2TAF) was required to interdict a variety of targets to support the Allied ground war, 350 sorties in July and 400 sorties in August, most of which were directly in support of Operation Cobra the Allied breakout from Normandy, concentrating mainly upon carrying out night-time attacks on German transports and infrastructure in France. The squadron entered a new phase in September when it was redirected to conduct raids further afield from France and in early September it flew 80 missions in the Netherlands with attacks on Walcheren Island, Scheldt Estuary, Rhine River ports and German airfields. From the 17^th Sep to month’s end the squadron was one of several 2TAF units assigned to provide close support to the ill-fated Operation Market and Operation Garden (normally referred to as Operation Market Garden). The squadron was specifically tasked to attack ferry and river crossings, roads and transport hubs plus targets of opportunity along the Eindhoven-Grave-Nijmegen-Arnhem axis and over a five day period they flew more than 50 missions. The latter part of September saw the squadron fly 45 missions to the Ruhr, Bremen, Cologne, and Wessel. These types of attacks were maintained throughout October with a further 161 missions against targets in Germany and Holland with an emphasis on trains, railway yards and depots. On October 31^st another successful precision low-level attack was made, this time on the Gestapo complex at the Aarhus University in Aarhus, Denmark.

In late September a 140 Wing advance party had travelled to the continent to assess possible locations for a squadron relocation and, by early October RAF Station Thorney Island had become overcrowded with Units and, more importantly, it was now too far from the scene of the action, thus severely restricting the Mosquito’ reach across the battlefront. However, a quick move was not on the cards and the squadron spent several more months at Thorney Island before they eventually moved to the Continent. During the remainder of their stay the Squadrons’ effort was mainly directed to the targets in Holland and Western Germany. The brutally cold winter of 1944-45 hindered operations to a marked degree but during the four month period from Oct44 to Jan45 the Squadron managed to fly many missions concentrating on disrupting German Army movements by attacking rail, road and river targets – 149 missions in Oct, 108 in Nov, 162 in Dec, 128 in Jan a total of some 547 missions. A noteworthy period for the squadron occurred between 31Dec and 05Jan45 when sixty-six missions were mounted in and around St Vith, Belgium to assist American Forces involved in the Battle of the Bulge.

The much anticipated and delayed redeployment final occurred on 05Feb45 when the squadron moved from Thorney Island to RAF Advanced Landing Ground B-87 near Rosières-en-Santerre, located 20km SE of Amiens in the Somme Department of France. The move was well received by Squadron personnel especially the aircrew who were now able to spend less time in transit to the various target areas, which now included a large swathe of western Germany. An operational highlight for the month was the squadrons’ involvement in Operation Clarion when sixteen Mosquitos joined a massive Allied force of 3,500 bombers and almost 5,000 fighters tasked to attack two hundred German transport and communications hubs that included railway stations, trains, barges, docks, bridges, signal boxes and radio stations.

The following month, on 21 March, six of the squadron's Mosquitos took part in Operation Carthage that consisted of twenty Mosquitos and thirty Mustang escorts. The force attacked Gestapo headquarters at the Shellhus in Copenhagen, Denmark, heavily damaging the building while losing six aircraft including two of 464Sqn. During April the squadron continued with numerous attacks on transport and communication centers as well as targets of opportunity throughout Holland and Germany. On 17Apr45 the squadron moved from B-87 near Rosières-en-Santerre to RAF Advanced Landing Ground B-58 at Melsbroek located 7km northeast of Brussels, Belgium where it would stay for the reminder of the war. The squadron continued with regular missions until 02May45 when thirteen Mosquitos departed Melsbroek for the final operation of 464Sqns’ war. Following the German surrender a No. 464 Squadron aircraft carried German Colonel General Alfred Jodl and his interpreter to Berlin on 11May45. Two days later six Mosquitos of 464Sqn formatted with six from 487Sqn and six from 21Sqn then proceeded to fly an 18-aircraft formation to the Hanseatic City of Lubeck on the German Baltic Coast. The next day from day break until dusk two Mosquitos, flying two hour patrols, flew up and down Oslo Fiord as escort for the British Naval Force of one Heavy Cruiser, two Light Cruisers, four Destroyers and seven Minesweepers which was conveying the Crown Prince Olaf of Norway to Oslo. The Mosquitos flew at very low level and numerous people, in small craft of all description, were wildly enthusiastic.

No. 464 Squadron RAAF was disbanded at Melsbroek on 25 September 1945.The squadron is credited with having attacked 2,353 separate targets during the war. The RAAF Historical Section wrote that its aircraft made "3,067 sorties, 7,967 operational hours and 1,835,008 miles". In so doing it lost 102 personnel killed in action, 33 of whom were Australian. Its members were awarded 14 Distinguished Flying Crosses with one bar and three Distinguished Flying Medals.

Table 1

Summary of 464 Sqn Mosquito Operational Sorties Flown and Aircraft Losses

464 Squadron is known to have operated at least 144 Mosquito aircraft. Of those used 52 [37%] were lost through operational and non-operational causes. The remainder of this document details the history of the aircraft lost and the men who flew them.

HJ774 HP850 HP851 HP926 HP934 HP935 HP988 HR153

HR187 HR245 HR341 HR353 HX858 HX912 HX920 HX964

HX976 HX983 LR258 LR259 LR389 MM400 MM401 MM402

MM403 MM404 MM405 MM407 MM410 MM423 MM427 NS890

NS893 NS897 NS926 NS937 NS943 NT129 NT138 NT143

NT154 NT177 NT189 NT229 NT231 PZ259 PZ309 PZ350

PZ452 RS609 SZ999 TA372

Table 2

Serials of 464 Sqn Mosquito Aircraft Losses

HJ774

00Jun43 De Havilland DH.98 Mosquito FB Mk.VI Series I with RAF Serial HJ774 was manufactured to Contract No.555/C.23 (a) by the De Havilland Aircraft Company Ltd at their Hatfield factory in Hertfordshire, UK. The aircraft was the 20^th of 38 aircraft built in the RAF Serial Range HJ755 to HJ792.

Powered by two 27-litre Rolls Royce Merlin 23 liquid-cooled two-stage supercharged V-12 piston aero engines fitted with exhaust flame dampers each developing 1,490hp (1,111kW) driving three-bladed De Havilland hydromatic propellers.

Armament was four 20-mm Mk.II Hispano-Suiza cannons with 150rpg mounted in the fuselage belly and four Browning .303 (7.7mm) machine guns with 500rpg mounted in the nose. Provision made for the carriage of two 50 gallon jettisonable fuel tanks or 2 x 500lb bombs in the aft section of the bomb bay plus two x 500lbs bombs or a load of 8 x 60lb RP-3 unguided rocket projectiles under the strengthened wings.

Camouflaged Ocean Grey overall with disruptive Dark Green over Medium Sea Grey on upper surfaces and sides; prop spinners were painted Medium Sea Grey.

00Jun43 Test flown at Hatfield before hand over to the RAF.

16Jun43 Delivered by an ATA Ferry pilot to No.27 Maintenance Unit at RAF Station Shawbury, Shropshire.

20Jun43 Aircraft taken on charge with No.418 Sqn RCAF at RAF Station Ford, West Sussex.

23Jul43 Aircraft taken on charge with No.157 Sqn RAF at RAF Station Hunsdon, Hertfordshire. While serving with 157Sqn the aircraft made one Operational Flight and made an unknown number of non-ops flights

06Sep43 Aircraft taken on charge with No.464 Sqn RAAF at RAF Station Sculthorpe, Norfolk and issued to A Flight at SB-J.

30Sep43 Aircraft flew an unknown number of non-operational flights in September 1943.

03Oct43 1^st Operational Flight. PLTOFF G.P Johnston and PLTOFF W. Jenkinson departed Sculthorpe at 0905hrs with 13 other Mosquitos and flew to RAF Exeter, Devon arriving 1102hrs. Aircraft topped up with fuel then departed with 11 other Mosquitos at 1259hrs for Ramrod R-90 and carried out a successful attack on a vital transformer and switching station at Sur-de-Bretagne near St Nazaire, France. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.II bombs and armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.7mm machine guns. Aircraft returned to Sculthorpe at 1534hrs.

09Oct43 2^nd Operational Flight. PLTOFF G.P Johnston and PLTOFF W. Jenkinson departed Sculthorpe at 1105hrs as one of twelve 464Sqn Mosquitos plus twelve from 487Sqn on Ramrod R265 tasked to attack an aero engine factory at Woippy near Metz in north eastern France. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.II bombs and armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.7mm machine guns. Johnson was flying as No.2 to WNGCDR H.J Meakin and both pilots fired on a desert camouflaged Me.110 - claimed as damaged.

Johnson and Jenkins failed to locate the target and headed for home. Crossing the Dutch coast the aircraft was struck by several birds. The crew could see some damage to the wings and as a precaution diverted to Bradwell Bay at 1440hrs where they were refuelled and returned to Sculthorpe at 1730hrs.

In operational terms the raid was a disaster as only two of the twenty-four Mosquitos found and attacked the target. The primary reason for the failure was the atrocious weather conditions in the hilly regions around the target area, nearly all aircraft became lost in the clouds and simply returned to Base. Worse news of all was that two aircraft of 464Sqn and two from 487Sqn were lost on the raid. Also, four aircraft of 464Sqn were damaged by bird strikes and six aircraft landed away from Base.

10Oct43 A post flight inspection revealed damage to the aircraft was much worse than it initially appeared. Both leading edges were severely damage and, more worryingly, the main spar was also badly damaged by the impacts. Damage was assessed as Cat/Ac and the aircraft was sent away for repair.

31Oct43 Aircraft made two Operational Flights and an unknown number of non-operational flights in Oct43.

30Nov43 Aircraft under repair in Nov43.

00Dec43 Aircraft returned to 464Sqn following completion of repairs.

21Dec43 PLTOFF G.P Johnston and PLTOFF W. Jenkinson departed Hunsdon at 0840hrs as one of fifteen 464Sqn Mosquitos then joined up with a further 23 aircraft from 21Sqn and 487Sqn for Ramrod R-387 Noball, the first Noball attack against a V1 site at St Agatdhe d’Aliermont, 18km SE of Dieppe, France. At 0915hrs when halfway across the Channel the raid was recalled because of extreme bad weather both enroute and over the target area.

22Dec43 3^rd Operational Flight. PLTOFF J.W Fox and WOFF L. McAllister departed Sculthorpe at 1045hrs as one of fifteen 464Sqn Mosquitos that joined up with a further twenty-three aircraft from 21Sqn and 487Sqn for a repeat of the previous day’s mission. On this occasion eight of the fifteen aircraft bombed the target successfully before the remaining seven were unable locate the target through the thick smoke caused by the large forest fire in the target area. Aircraft armed with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.II bombs and armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.7mm machine guns. The crew bombed the assigned target and returned to Base at 1305hrs.

31Dec43 4^th Operational Flight. PLTOFF G.P Johnston and PLTOFF W. Jenkinson departed Sculthorpe at 0915hrs as one of thirteen 464Sqn Mosquitos for Ramrod R-401 Noball Mission, an attack against a V1 launch complex at La Plouy Ferme, in the Somme region of France. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.II bombs and armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.7mm machine guns. Intense flak met the aircraft over the target but the crew successfully bombed the target before returning to Base at 1120hrs.

31Dec43 Aircraft moved from Sculthorpe to the Squadrons’ new operating base at RAF Station Hunsdon, Hertfordshire.

Aircraft flew two Operational Flights and made two non-operational flights in Dec 1943.

04Jan44 5^th Operational Flight. PLTOFF G.P Johnston and PLTOFF W. Jenkinson departed Hunsdon at 1800hrs as one six 464Sqn aircraft tasked to attack various airfields in northern France. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.II bombs and armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.7mm machine guns. Johnston was tasked to attack Chartres airfield in Centre-Val de Loire, France. However, the pilot was forced to abort at 1930hrs when he could not establish an accurate fix and became lost. Aircraft returned to Base at 2100hrs.

10Jan44 6^th Operational Flight. PLTOFF G.P Johnston and PLTOFF W. Jenkinson departed Hunsdon at 1855hrs as one of six 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to attack the Brussels/Melbock airfield. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.II bombs and armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.7mm machine guns. Over the target area Johnston was forced to take evasive action after being caught by searchlights and his manoeuvring brought them out over the Brussels/Evere airfield. They spotted a large camouflaged hangar and dropped their bombs but could not see the results as they were again caught in searchlight glare. However, a report from an agent in Brussels stated the hangar they bombed and destroyed contained 10 single engined German fighters. Crew returned to Base at 2115hrs.

14Jan44 7^th Operational Flight. PLTOFF G.P Johnston and PLTOFF W. Jenkinson departed Hunsdon at 1730hrs as one of six 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to attack various airfields in northern France and Holland. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.II bombs and armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.7mm machine guns. The crew located and bombed Twente airfield before heading for home. The pilot diverted to RAF Station Castle Camps in Cambridgeshire at 2030hrs as Hunsdon was closed due to fog.

21Jan44 8^th Operational Flight. FLGOFF A.F Swan and PLTOFF R.A Williams departed Hunsdon at 1920hrs as one of eight 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to attack various airfields in northern France and Holland. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.II bombs and armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.7mm machine guns. The crew located and bombed Twente airfield in Overijssel, Holland before returning to Base at 2140hrs.

23Jan44 FLGOFF G.P Johnston and FLGOFF W. Jenkinson departed Hunsdon for a night flying test. After completing the test they spotted a USAAC A-20 Havoc and decided to bounce the bomber. As they made their mock attack they struck the Havoc’s slipstream and the Mosquito entered a spin at 500ft from which it did not recover and crashed one mile south of RAF Hunsdon. . Both crew were killed in the crash.

31Jan44 Aircraft flew four Operational Flights and at least two non-operational flights in January 1944.

De Havilland Mosquito HJ774 served with 464Sqn from 06Sep43 until 23Jan44, a period of 139 days. During that period the aircraft flew eight Operational Flights totalling 23hrs 40min and made an unknown number of non-operational flights. Total accumulated flying hours as stated on RAF Form 78 was 151hrs and 30min.

RCAF pilot J/18128 Flying Officer George Peter Johnston (24) of Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada the son of George William and Anne Johnston, of Winnipeg, Manitoba. George was KIA and is buried in Row 44. Plot C. Grave 1 of the Brookwood Military Cemetery, Surrey. He is commemorated on Page 347 of the Canadian Second World War Book of Remembrance in Ottawa, Canada; on the RAF Hunsdon Roll of Honour memorial; in the RAF WW2 Books of Remembrance at St Clement Danes Church, London; and, on the RCAF Bomber Command Memorial Wall in Nanton, Alberta

Brookwood Cemetery - RAF Hunsdon Memorial - RCAF Bomber Command Memorial

RAFVR navigator 155550 Flying Officer William Jenkinson (31) of Winchester the son of William and Edith Jenkinson; husband of Marjorie Jenkinson of Winchester. William was KIA and is buried in Row F.1, Grave 106 of the Magdalen Hill Cemetery in Winchester, Hampshire. He is remembered in the RAF WW2 Books of Remembrance at St Clement Danes Church, London; and, on the RAF Hunsdon Roll of Honour Memorial

RAF Hunsdon Memorial

HP850

00Jun43 De Havilland DH.98 Mosquito FB Mk.VI Series I with RAF Serial HP850 was manufactured under licence to Contract No.1680/C.23 by the Standard Motor Company Ltd at their Canley facility in Coventry, UK. The aircraft was the 3^rd of 41 aircraft built in the RAF Serial Range HP848 to HP888.

Powered by two 27-litre Rolls Royce Merlin 23 liquid-cooled two-stage supercharged V-12 piston aero engines fitted with exhaust flame dampers each developing 1,490hp (1,111 kW) driving three-bladed De Havilland hydromatic propellers.

Armament was four 20-mm Mk.II Hispano-Suiza cannons with 150rpg with 150rpg mounted in the fuselage belly and four Browning .303 (7.7mm) machine guns with 500rpg mounted in the nose. Provision made for the carriage of two 50 gallon jettisonable fuel tanks or 2 x 500lb bombs in the aft section of the bomb bay plus two x 500lbs bombs or a load of 8 x 60lb RP-3 unguided rocket projectiles under the strengthened wings.

Camouflaged Ocean Grey overall with disruptive Dark Green over Medium Sea Grey on upper surfaces and sides; prop spinners were painted Medium Sea Grey.

00Jun43 Test flown at Canley by a de Havilland test pilot.

02Jul43 Delivered for acceptance tests to No.27 Maintenance Unit at RAF Station Shawbury, Shropshire.

14Jul43 Aircraft taken on charge with No.157 Sqn RAF at RAF Station Hunsdon, Hertfordshire.

31Aug43 Aircraft allocated to No.464 Sqn RAAF at RAF Station Sculthorpe, Norfolk. While serving with 157 Sqn the aircraft made eight Operational Flights plus an unknown number of non-operational flights.

08Sep43 Aircraft delivered by an ATA ferry pilot to 464Sqn, taken on charge and issued to B Flight at SB-Q.

30Sep43 Aircraft made an unknown number of operational and non-operational flights in the July to September period of 1943.

09Oct43 1^st Operational Flight. FLGOFF R Winstone-Smith and FLGOFF C.G McDonald departed Sculthorpe at 1110hrs with eleven other Mosquitos to attack an aero engine factory at Woippy near Metz in north eastern France. Weapons load was 4 x 500lb MC 11sec delay bombs, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. As the formation was crossing the Netherlands coast HP850 was hit by flak and was last seen dropping out of formation with flames streaming from the aircraft. The aircraft crashed in Zeeland Province at 1210hrs in the Clarapolder near Mollekot (close to the barns of farmer Ms. De Dobbelaere), 2km S of Ijzendijke, Holland. Both airmen were killed in the crash.

31Oct43 Aircraft struck off charge. De Havilland Mosquito FB Mk.V1 Series I with RAF Serial HP850 served with 464 Sqn from 06Sep43 until 09Oct43, a brief period of 35 days. During that period the aircraft made one Operational Flight totalling 2hrs 10min plus an unknown number of non-operational flights. Total accumulated flying hours with 157Sqn and 464Sqn as stated on RAF Form 78 was 82hrs and 5min.

RAFVR pilot 42902 Flight Lieutenant Robert Winstone Smith (23) son of Alfred Ernest and Florence Ethel Smith, of Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire was KIA. He is buried in Grave No.2 of the Ijzendijke General Cemetery, Sluis Municipality in Zeeland province, Netherlands. He is remembered in the RAF WW2 Books of Remembrance at St Clement Danes Church, London; and, on the RAF Hunsdon Roll of Honour Memorial

RAF Hunsdon Memorial

RCAF navigator J/13787 Flying Officer Charles Grant McDonald (27) son of Mr. and Mrs. W. C. McDonald, of Westmount, Province of Quebec, Canada was KIA. He is buried in Grave No.1 of the Ijzendijke General Cemetery, Zeeland province, Netherlands. He is also commemorated on Page 189 of the Canadian Second World War Book of Remembrance; on the RAF Hunsdon Roll of Honour memorial; in the RAF WW2 Books of Remembrance at St Clement Danes Church, London; and, on the RCAF Bomber Command Memorial Wall in Nanton, Alberta.

RCAF Bomber Command Memorial, Nanton, Allberta

HP851

00Jul43 De Havilland DH.98 Mosquito FB Mk.VI Series I with RAF Serial HP851 was manufactured under licence to Contract No.1680/C.23 by the Standard Motor Company Ltd at their Canley facility in Coventry, UK. The aircraft was the 4^th of 41 aircraft built in the RAF Serial Range HP848 to HP888.

Powered by two 27-litre Rolls Royce Merlin 23 liquid-cooled two-stage supercharged V-12 piston aero engines fitted with exhaust flame dampers each developing 1,490hp (1,111kW) driving three-bladed De Havilland hydromatic propellers. Camouflaged Ocean Grey overall with disruptive Dark Green over Medium Sea Grey on upper surfaces and sides; prop spinners were painted Medium Sea Grey.

Armament was four 20-mm Mk.II Hispano-Suiza cannons with 150rpg mounted in the fuselage belly and four Browning .303 (7.7mm) machine guns with 500rpg mounted in the nose. Provision made for the carriage of two 50 gallon jettisonable fuel tanks or 2 x 500lb bombs in the aft section of the bomb bay plus two x 500lbs bombs or a load of 8 x 60lb RP-3 unguided rocket projectiles under the strengthened wings.

00Jul43 Test flown at Canley by a de Havilland test pilot.

16Jul43 Delivered by an ATA ferry pilot to No.10 Maintenance Unit at RAF Station Hullavington, Wiltshire

05Aug43 Delivered by an ATA ferry pilot to No.157 Sqn RAF at RAF Station Hunsdon, Hertfordshire.

28Aug43 SQNLDR R.F Robinson DFC and FLGOFF W.R Dibden departed Hunsdon at 2335hrs for an intruder mission to Florennes, Belgium. The pilot had to abort the mission at 2340hrs when the undercarriage would not retract.

29Aug43 Aircraft repaired on site.

05Sep43 Aircraft allocated to No.464 Sqn RAAF at RAF Station Sculthorpe, Norfolk. While serving with 157Sqn the aircraft made four Operational Flights, 4 x 10min pre-Ops test flights and an unknown number of non-operational flights.

08Sep43 Aircraft taken on charge with No.464 Sqn and issued to B Flight at SB-U.

30Sep43 Aircraft made an unknown number of training flights in September 1943.

03Oct43 1^st Operational Flight RAAF FLGOFF B.C Crofts and RAFVR FLGOFF F.H Landucci departed Sculthorpe at 0905hrs as one of twelve 464Sqn Mosquitos along with twelve 487Sqn Mosquitos and flew to RAF Exeter, Devon arriving 1102hrs. Weapons load was 4 x 500lb MC 11sec delay bombs, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. Aircraft topped up with fuel at Exeter then departed at 1259hrs for Ramrod R-90 and carried out a successful attack on vital power transformer and switching stations at Mur-de-Bretagne near St Nazaire, France. 464Sqn was specifically tasked to attack the Guerlédan power station which the crew bombed and returned to Sculthorpe at 1534hrs.

The crew of Mosquito 'EG-X' of No. 487 Squadron RNZAF at Sculthorpe, Norfolk, gather round their aircraft prior to the first Mosquito raid mounted by No. 140 Wing, No. 2 Group, in which 24 aircraft from No. 464 Squadron RAAF and 487 Squadron successfully attacked two power stations in France. In the background are two of No. 464's participating Mosquitos,
HP851 'SB-U' and HJ772 'SB-W'.

09Oct43 2^nd Operational Flight RAAF FLGOFF B.C Crofts and RAFVR FLGOFF F.H Landucci departed Sculthorpe at 1110hrs as one of ten 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to attack an aero engine factory at Woippy near Metz in north eastern France. Weapons load was 4 x 500lb MC instantaneous fused bombs, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed their target through a brief gap in the otherwise 10/10ths cloud cover and were homeward bound when the aircraft was hit by flak when crossing the French coast. The damage was sufficient to force the pilot into making an emergency landing at RAF Hurn, Dorset.

The aircraft was assessed as Cat.Ac and remained at Hurn until a crew from A.V Roe arrived and began the repair process. Repairs were completed one week later and the aircraft returned to 464Sqn on 19Oct43. Back at Sculthorpe, the aircraft still exhibited problems and was reclassified as Cat.B and sent to De Havilland for lengthy repairs.

31Oct43 Aircraft made two Operational Flights and a number of non-operational flights in October 1943.

30Nov43 Aircraft was under repair all of Nov43.

31Dec43 Aircraft was under repair all of Dec43.

01Jan44 Repairs completed and awaiting collection at De Havilland.

05Jan44 Aircraft delivered by ATA Ferry Pilot to the Squadron’s new base at RAF Hunsdon, Hertfordshire.

10Jan44 3^rd Operational Flight. FLGOFF B.I Crofts and FLGOFF F.H Landucci departed Hunsdon at 1845hrs as one of six 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to attack various airfields in Belgium. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.II bombs and armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.7mm machine guns. The crew successfully located and bombed St Trond airfield in Belgium with little from the flak defences. Aircraft returned to Hunsdon at 2115hrs.

14Jan44 4^th Operational Flight. FLGOFF B.C Crofts and RAFVR FLGOFF F.H Landucci departed Hunsdon at 1730hrs and successfully completed a 3hr mission to bomb Rheim airfield in Belgium. Weapons load was 4 x 500lb MC TD bombs, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. After locating the airfield Crofts carefully lined up the attack and dropped all bombs within the airfield’s boundary from a height of 1,500ft. Aircraft recovered to RAF Castle Camps, Cambridgeshire due to a shortage of fuel and returned to base the following day.

28Jan44 5^th Operational Flight. PLTOFF J. Alexander and RCAF PLTOFF R.W Link departed Hunsdon at 2340hrs with five other Mosquitos on a night Intruder Mission to attack the Munster/Hansdorf aerodrome complex, Germany. Weapons load was 4 x 500lb MC TD bombs, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The aircraft failed to return and was posted as MIA. Post war investigations revealed the aircraft was shot down near Marl, 30km west of Munster, Germany.

01Feb44 Aircraft struck off charge. De Havilland Mosquito FB Mk.V1 Series I with RAF Serial HP851 served with 464 Sqn from 06Sep43 until 28Jan44, a period of 144 days. During that period the aircraft flew five Operational Flights totalling 13hrs 05min plus an unknown number of non-operational flights. Total accumulated flying as stated in RAF Form 78 was 111hrs.

RAFVR Pilot 157401 Pilot Officer James Alexander (24) born 1920, son of Robert and Elizabeth Alexander of Oldham, Lancashire. James was KIA and initially buried by locals in Plot 5A, Joint Grave No.6 of the Marl cemetery in the district of Recklinghausen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. On 23^rd April 1947 James was exhumed by a British Graves Concentration Unit and reinterred in Plot XVII Row F Grave 15 of the Reichswald Forest War Cemetery in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. He is also honoured in the Oldham Roll of Remembrance held at Oldham War memorial, Lancashire; and, in the RAF WW2 Books of Remembrance at St Clement Danes Church, London; and, on the RAF Hunsdon Roll of Honour Memorial.

RCAF Navigator J18990 Pilot Officer Rudolph Walter Link (24) born 3^rd November 1919 in Camrose, Alberta, Canada son of Ray Bruce and Anna Link, of Camrose, Alberta. Rudolph was KIA and initially buried by locals in Plot 5A, Joint Grave No.6 of the Marl cemetery in the district of Recklinghausen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. On 23^rd April 1947 Rudolph was exhumed by a British Graves Concentration Unit and reinterred in Plot XVII Row F Grave 16 of the Reichswald Forest War Cemetery in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. He is also honoured on Page 366 of the Canadian Second World War Book of Remembrance in Ottawa, Canada; in the RAF WW2 Books of Remembrance at St Clement Danes Church, London; and, on the RCAF Bomber Command Memorial Wall in Nanton, Alberta.

Book of Remembrance Bomber Command Memorial Wall in Nanton, Alberta.

HP926

00Jan44 De Havilland DH.98 Mosquito FB Mk.VI Series II with RAF Serial HP926 was manufactured under licence to Contract No.1680/C.23 by the Standard Motor Company Ltd at their Canley facility in Coventry, UK. The aircraft was the 23^rd of 39 aircraft built in the RAF Serial Range HP904 to HP942.

Powered by two 27-litre Rolls Royce Merlin 25 liquid-cooled two-stage supercharged V-12 piston aero engines fitted with exhaust flame dampers each developing 1,635hp (1,230kW) driving three-bladed De Havilland hydromatic propellers. Camouflaged Ocean Grey overall with disruptive Dark Green over Medium Sea Grey on upper surfaces and sides; prop spinners were painted Medium Sea Grey.

Armament was four 20-mm Mk.II Hispano-Suiza cannons with 150rpg mounted in the fuselage belly and four Browning .303 (7.7mm) machine guns with 500rpg mounted in the nose. Provision made for the carriage of either two 50 gallon fuel tanks or two x 500lb bombs in the rear bomb bay, plus two x 500lbs bombs or a load of 8 x 60lb RP-3 unguided rocket projectiles under the strengthened wings.

00Jan44 Test flown at Canley by a de Havilland test pilot.

22Jan44 Delivered by an ATA Ferry pilot to No.10 Maintenance Unit at RAF Station Hullavington, Wiltshire.

03Feb44 Delivered by an ATA Ferry pilot to No.464 Sqn RAAF at RAF Station Sculthorpe, Norfolk issued to A Flight as SB-C.

08Feb44 1^st Operational Flight. FLGOFF C.H.L Foster DFC and SGT H. Bradley departed Hunsdon at 1015hrs as one of six Mosquitos tasked for an attack on a V1 site at Beaumont le Hareng in the Pas de Calais, France. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew aborted the mission when bird strikes damaged the cockpit and both windshields, aircraft returned to Base at 1050hrs. The damage was assessed as Cat.A and was repaired within two hours of landing so the aircraft could be prepared for another sortie.

2^nd Operational Flight. FLGOFF C.H.L Foster DFC and SGT H. Bradley departed Hunsdon at 1520hrs as one of six 464Sqn Mosquitos plus five from 21Sqn tasked for an attack on a V1 site at Beaumont le Hareng in the Pas de Calais, France. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew successfully bombed the target at 1622hrs then returned to Base at 1720hrs.

21Feb44 3^rd Operational Flight. FLGOFF G.B Robinson and PLTOFF G.P Jeffries departed Hunsdon at 1015hrs as one of six 464Sqn Mosquitos plus two from 21Sqn and five from 613Sqn all tasked for an attack on a V1 site at Les Hayons in Normandy, France. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew successfully bombed the target and returned to Base at 1200hrs.

22Feb44 4^th Operational Flight. FLGOFF D.V Avery and FSGT L.K Brodie departed Hudson at 1000hrs as one of six 464Sqn Mosquitos that joined two from 21 Sqn and six from 613Sqn tasked to attack a V1 site at Chateau de Bosmelet in the Pas de Calais, France. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. At 1108hrs the crew made a successful attack on the site then returned to Base at 1200hrs.

24Feb44 5^th Operational Flight. FLGOFF C. Timson and SGT P.H Edwards departed Hudson at 1125hrs as one of six 464Sqn Mosquitos and eight from 613 Sqn tasked to attack a V1 site at Beautot in the Pas de Calais, France. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. At 1238hrs the crew made a successful attack on the site then returned to Base at 1310hrs.

6^th Operational Flight. FLGOFF D.V Avery and FSGT L.K Brodie departed Hudson at 1630hrs as one of eight 464Sqn Mosquitos and five from 613Sqn tasked to attack V1 construction works at St Adrien in Bretagne, France. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; armed with 4 x 20mm Hispano cannons and four Browning 7.7mm machine guns. The 464Sqn aircraft were split into four pairs with a small time interval between each pair. The crew successfully attacked the target and returned to Base at 1810hrs.

25Feb44 7^th Operational Flight. FLGOFF C. Timson and SGT P.H Edwards departed Hudson at 1135hrs as one of six 464Sqn Mosquitos that joined two from 305 Sqn and six from 613Sqn tasked to attack a V1 site at Belleville-en-Caux in the Pas de Calais, France. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. At 1237hrs the crew made a successful attack on the site then returned to Base at 1325hrs.

8th Operational Flight. FLGOFF C. Timson and SGT P.H Edwards departed Hudson at 1630hrs as one of six 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to attack V1 construction works at Beautot in the Pas de Calais, France. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; armed with 4 x 20mm Hispano cannons and four Browning 7.7mm machine guns. The crew successfully attacked the target and returned to Base at 1815hrs.

28Feb44 9^th Operational Flight. FLGOFF D.V Avery and WOFF L.F Brodie departed Hunsdon at 1315 hrs as one of six 464Sqn Mosquitos that joined a further six from 613Sqn; six from 21Sqn; and, two from 305Sqn all tasked to attack V1 construction works at Beautot in the Pas de Calais. The tail unit was badly shot up by flak when leaving the target area and the pilot was only able to use trimming tabs on the flight back to the UK. Unable to maintain sufficient control to effect a landing the crew baled out over the south coast of UK near Merston, Kent Both crewmen sustained injuries and were admitted to hospital in Kent for treatment before returning to Hunsdon on 02Mar44.

02Mar44 Aircraft struck off charge. De Havilland Mosquito FB Mk.VI Series II with RAF Serial HP926 served with 464Sqn from 03Feb44 until 28Feb44, a period of just 25 days. During that period the aircraft flew nine Operational Flights totalling 14hrs 25min and made a number of non-operational flights. Total accumulated flight time from manufacture is estimated to be less than 20hrs.

HP934

00Feb44 De Havilland DH.98 Mosquito FB Mk.VI Series II with RAF Serial HP934 was manufactured under licence to Contract No.1680/C.23 by the Standard Motor Company Ltd at their Canley facility in Coventry, UK. The aircraft was the 32^nd of 39 aircraft built in the RAF Serial Range HP904 to HP942.

Powered by two 27-litre Rolls Royce Merlin 25 liquid-cooled two-stage supercharged V-12 piston aero engines fitted with exhaust flame dampers each developing 1,635hp (1,230kW) driving three-bladed De Havilland hydromatic propellers. Camouflaged overall Ocean Grey with a disruptive pattern of Dark Green over Medium Sea Grey on upper surfaces and sides; prop spinners painted Medium Sea Grey.

Armament was four 20-mm Mk.II Hispano-Suiza cannons with 150rpg mounted in the fuselage belly and four Browning .303 (7.7mm) machine guns with 500rpg mounted in the nose. Provision made for the carriage of either two 50 gallon fuel tanks or two x 500lb bombs in the rear bomb bay, plus two x 500lbs bombs or a load of 8 x 60lb RP-3 unguided rocket projectiles under the strengthened wings.

00Feb44 Test flown at Canley by a de Havilland test pilot.

20Feb44 Delivered to No.27 Maintenance Unit at RAF Station Shawbury, Shropshire for acceptance tests.

04Mar44 Delivered to No.417 Aircraft Repair Flight (ARF) at RAF Lasham, Hampshire

17Mar44 Taken on charge with 107 Sqn RAF at RAF Gravesend, Kent

02Jun44 Taken on charge with 464 Sqn RAAF at RAF Station Gravesend, Kent issued to B Flight as SB-P, re-coded as SB-X on 07Jun44.

03Jun44 Aircraft prepared for the forthcoming D-Day Invasion. The most noticeable preparation was the application of five 24 inch (61 cm) wide alternating black and white stripes placed 24 inches (61 cm) outboard of the engine nacelles on the wings; and, five 18 inch (46 cm) wide stripes forward of the leading edge of the tailplane around the fuselage.

05Jun44 1^st Operational Flight. FLTLT H.A Maule and SGT E.R Thomas departed Gravesend at 2215hrs as one of twenty Mosquitos tasked to support of D-Day landings in Normandy. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area bounded by the coast, Rennes, Le Mans and Lisieux. Aircraft armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns and loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs and Illumination Flares. The crew bombed vehicles on road T.6828 near Laval before returning to Base at 0030hrs/06Jun.

2^nd Operational Flight. FLTLT J.L Martin and SGT H.L Moran departed Gravesend at 0300hrs/06Jun as one of twenty Mosquitos tasked to support the D-Day landings in Normandy. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area bounded by the coast, Rennes, Le Mans and Lisieux. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a road bridge over a river near St Jean Sur Mayenne at 0456hrs then returned to Base at 0600hrs.

06Jun44 3^rd Operational Flight. FLTLT H.A Maule and SGT E.R Thomas departed Gravesend at 0130hrs as one of eighteen Mosquitos tasked to support of D-Day landings in Normandy. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area bounded by the coast, Rennes, Le Mans and Lisieux. Weapons load was 2 x 500lb MC bombs and 2 x 500lb Target Indicator Bombs. The crew bombed and strafed a road south of Dreux located 96km west of Paris and, as they headed for home, dropped target indicators over Thury-Harcourt in the Calvados area of Normandy. The crew retuned to base at 0400hrs.

07Jun44 4^th Operational Flight. FLTLT H.A Maule and SGT E.R Thomas departed Gravesend at 0030hrs as one of sixteen Mosquitos tasked to support the D-Day landings in Normandy. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area bounded by the coast, Rennes, Le Mans and Lisieux. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs and Illumination Flares; armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed vehicles in their patrol area before returning to base at 0305hrs.

08Jun44 5^th Operational Flight. PLTOFF J.R.C Walton and FLGOFF C.H Harper departed Gravesend at 0115hrs as one of ten Mosquitos tasked to support the D-Day landings in Normandy. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area bounded by the coast, Rennes, Le Mans and Lisieux. Weapons load was 4 x 500lb MC TD bombs, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed their target area and returned to Base at 0345hrs.

10Jun44 6^th Operational Flight. FLTLT H.A Maule and SGT E.R Thomas departed Gravesend at 0015hrs as one of twenty 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to support the D-Day landings in Normandy. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area bounded by the coast, Rennes, Le Mans and Lisieux. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a target based on GEE data before returning to Base at 0225hrs.

11Jun44 7^th Operational Flight. FLTLT A.A Taylor and SQNLDR P. Livery departed Gravesend at 0120hrs as one of thirteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to support the D-Day landings in Normandy. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area bounded by the coast, Rennes, Le Mans and Lisieux. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a main highway before returning to Base at 0400hrs.

12Jun44 8^th Operational Flight. FSGT J.W Wade and FSGT E.A Piper departed Gravesend at 0210hrs as one of twelve 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to attack Le Lesnil Mauger Railway Yards in the Seine-Maritime department, Normandy. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a main rail line before returning to Base at 0435hrs.

17Jun44 Gravesend could not be used because of the high density of V1 traffic passing directly over the Base, so the aircraft was one of sixteen Mosquitos deployed in the morning hours to RAF Dunsfold near Cranleigh, Surrey for the nights’ operations.

17Jun44 9^th Operational Flight. FLTLT H.A Maule and SGT E.R Thomas departed RAF Dunsfold at 2300hrs as one of sixteen 464Sqn aircraft tasked to attack road and rail links in the Cherbourg area. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a railway crossing before returning to Base at 0140hrs/18Jun.

18Jun44 Aircraft moved to new base at RAF Thorney Island, West Sussex.

20Jun44 10th Operational Flight. FLGOFF R. Johnston and FLGOFF C.J.H Turner departed Thorney Island at 0030hrs as one of sixteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to support the D-Day landings. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the Chartres area, 90km southwest of Paris. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. As the aircraft departed the pilot tried to retract the undercarriage but it would not retract and lock. After making several attempts the pilot aborted the mission and returned to Base at 0045hrs.

21Jun44 11^th Operational Flight. FLTLT H.A Maule and SGT E.R Thomas departed Thorney Island at 0110hrs as one of sixteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to support the D-Day landings. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the in the area bounded by the coast, Nantes, Dreux, and Gassicourt. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed Dreux railway junction before returning to Base at 0345hrs.

23Jun44 12^th Operational Flight. FLTLT A.A. Rollo and FLGOFF G.S Howard departed Thorney Island at 0025hrs as one of twelve 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to harass movement of the 9th and 10th Waffen-SS Panzer Divisions. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a burning train at a railway junction near the town of Vire before returning to Base at 0255hrs.

27Jun44 13^th Operational Flight. FLTLT H.A Maule and SGT E.R Thomas departed Thorney Island at 0015hrs as one of sixteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to support the D-Day landings. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area bounded by the coast, Rennes, Le Mans and Lisieux. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a railway junction near Dreux, Normandy before returning to Base at 0300hrs

29Jun44 14^th Operational Flight. FLTLT H.A Maule and SGT E.R Thomas departed Thorney Island at 2250hrs as one of sixteen 464Sqn Mosquitos plus sixteen from 487Sqn tasked to support the D-Day landings. Specifically, the thirty-two strong force was tasked to harass the 9th and 10th Waffen-SS Panzer Divisions that were laagered around the town of Villers-Bocage in the Calvados department of Normandy. All Mosquitos were loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The strike force attacked numerous vehicles, roads, railways and camps within a five-mile circle centred on Villers-Bocage. The crew reported attacking several targets and noticed many fires burning all over the target area.

30Jun44 Aircraft flew fourteen Operational Flights and made at least two non-operational flights in Jun1944.

03Jul44 15^th Operational Flight. FLGOFF R. Johnston and FLGOFF C.J.H Turner departed Thorney Island at 2359hrs/02Jul as one of fourteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to support the D-Day landings. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the Chartres area, 90km southwest of Paris. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed a train before returning to Base at 0255hrs.

04Jul44 16^th Operational Flight. FLGOFF W.R Hurst and FLGOFF W.R Binks departed Thorny Island at 0020hrs as one of fourteen aircraft from the Squadron detailed to carry out night Ranger operations in Northern France. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed a road bridge and vehicles before returning to Base at 0350hrs.

05Jul44 17^th Operational Flight. FLGOFF J.C Nixon and PLTOFF P. Mosby departed Thorny Island at 0005hrs as one of twelve 4644Sqn Mosquitos detailed to carry out night Ranger operations in Northern France. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed a road and vehicles resulting in much smoke and fire before returning to Base at 0225hrs.

06Jul44 18^th Operational Flight. FLGOFF W.R Hurst and FLGOFF W.R Binks departed Thorny Island at 0020hrs as one of sixteen aircraft from the Squadron detailed to carry out night Ranger operations in Northern France. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed a road bridge and vehicles before returning to Base at 0350hrs.

07Jul44 19^th Operational Flight. FLTLT H.A Maule and SGT E.R Thomas departed Thorney Island at 0150hrs as one of fifteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to support the D-Day landings. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the Angers area near the city of Nantes. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a river crossing and strafed an adjacent road before returning to Base at 0355hrs

08Jul44 20^th Operational Flight. FLTLT H.A Maule and SGT E.R Thomas departed Thorney Island at 2320hrs /07Jul as one of ten 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to support the D-Day landings. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the Caen-Falaise corridor. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed a lighted woods area before returning to Base at 0245hrs

09Jul44 21^st Operational Flight. FLTLT H.A Maule and SGT E.R Thomas departed Thorney Island at 0130hrs as one of fifteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to support the D-Day landings. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges between Le Havre and Rouen. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed a lighted woods area near Quillebeuf-sur-Seine before returning to Base at 0330hrs

10Jul44 22^nd Operational Flight. FSGT J.R Mulligan and FSGT W. Kinloch departed Thorney Island at 0015hrs as one of twelve 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to support the D-Day landings. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the Caen-Falaise corridor. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew patrolled their assigned sector but found no targets before returning to Base at 0230hrs

11Jul44 23^rd Operational Flight. FLGOFF R. Johnston and FLGOFF C.J.H. Turner departed Thorney Island at 2355hrs/10Jul as one of twelve 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to support the D-Day landings. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the Caen-Falaise corridor. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed a rail bridge before returning to Base at 0210hrs.

12Jul44 24^th Operational Flight. FLTLT H.A Maule and SGT E.R Thomas departed Thorney Island at 0015hrs as one of fifteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to support the D-Day landings. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges between Le Havre and Rouen. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a bridge over the Seine River at Duclair before returning to Base at 0145hrs.

20Jul44 25^th Operational Flight. FLTLT H.A Maule and SGT E.R Thomas departed Thorney Island at 0120hrs as one of eleven Mosquitos tasked to attack road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges between Le Havre and Rouen. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges between Le Havre and Rouen. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a railway line before heading for home. When crossing the French coast the aircraft was hit by flak causing Cat.AC damage to the port wing and rear fuselage. Crew landed safely at 0330hrs.

22Jul44 Aircraft allocated to 417ARF for repairs. While undergoing repair then D-Day identification stripes were removed from the aircraft.

30Jul44 Aircraft flew eleven Operational Flights and made at least three non-operational flights in July 1944.

00Sep44 Aircraft returned to the Squadron after repairs were completed by 417 RSU.

08Sep44 26th Operational Flight. FLGOFF W.A Greenshields and FLGOFF E.H. Norman departed Thorney Island at 0200hrs as one of eight 464Sqn aircraft tasked to attack ferry crossings and rail connections on Walcheren Island in the Dutch Province of Zeeland. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a canal bridge near Flushing before returning to Base at 0500hrs.

12Sep44 27th Operational Flight. FLGOFF W.A Greenshields and FLGOFF E.H. Norman departed Thorney Island at 2325hrs/11Sep as one of twelve 464Sqn aircraft tasked to attack targets of opportunity on Walcheren Island in the Dutch Province of Zeeland. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a large road junction before returning to Base at 0220hrs/12Sep.

23Sep44 28th Operational Flight. FSGT J.A Beer and FSGT R.F Fountain departed Thorney Island at 2030hrs as one of four 464Sqn aircraft tasked to attack communication nodes near Cologne, Germany. Aircraft fitted with two jettisonable long range fuel tanks; loaded with 2 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a road and rail section before returning to Base at 2345hrs.

27Sep44 29th Operational Flight. FLGOFF M.L Doube and PLTOFF J. M Moon departed Thorney Island at 2030hrs as one of fifteen aircraft detailed to carry out night Ranger operations against targets of opportunity in the Ruhr area such as transport vans, marshalling yards and large factories. Aircraft fitted with two jettisonable long range fuel tanks; loaded with 2 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew were engaged by a number of searchlights working in conjunction with one or more Me.410 night fighters, by the time they could disengage from the situation fuel levels were low so the pilot aborted and returned to Base at 0115hrs.

28Sep44 30th Operational Flight. FSGT J.A Beer and FSGT R.F Fountain departed Thorney Island at 2215hrs as one of thirteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to carry out Intruder patrols against targets of opportunity in the vicinity of the Dutch Islands. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew located a target but the bombs would not release despite three attempts, nor would the release when emergency jettison was selected. The pilot aborted and returned to Base at 0140hrs.

30Sep44 Aircraft made five Operational Flights and made at least two non-operational flights in Sept1944.

02Oct44 31^st Operational Flight. WOFF J.A Beer and FSGT R.F Fountain departed Thorney Island at 2010hrs as one of fourteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked for an Intruder Patrol to Osnabrück in Lower Saxony, Germany. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew spotted a passenger train in the open and attacked with bombs followed by strafing before returning to Base at 2335hrs.

03Oct44 32^nd Operational Flight. FLTLT A. Moodie and FSGT O. Mountford departed Thorney Island at 2150hrs as one of fifteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked for an Intruder Patrol to Münster, Germany. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed a passenger train before returning to Base 0210hrs/04Oct.

05Oct44 33^rd Operational Flight. FSGTJ.W Wade and FSGT E.A Piper departed Thorney Island at 2030hrs as one of fifteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked for an Intruder Patrol to Geldern in North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a a railway junction at Geldern before returning to Base at 2345hrs.

06Oct44 34th Operational Flight. FSGTJ.W Wade and FSGT E.A Piper departed Thorney Island at 0055hrs as one of thirteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked for a Ranger mission to the Breskens-Flushing-Goes area in Zeeland, Holland. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a lighted road section near Goes before returning to Base at 0315hrs/07Oct.

14Oct44 35th Operational Flight. WOFF J.A Beer and FSGT R.F Fountain departed Thorney Island at 2200hrs as one of fourteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked for an Intruder Patrol to Geldern in North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The pilot aborted the mission at 2350hrs when the starboard engine began to run irregularly and nursed the aircraft back to the UK where he made a successful single engine emergency landing at RAF Manston 0135hrs/15Oct.

19Oct44 36^th Operational Flight. FSGT J.R Mulligan and FSGT W. Kinloch departed Thorney Island at 2205hrs as one of twelve 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked for an Intruder Patrol to the Rhineland area of Germany. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed one train then strafed a second train, both located in a railway siding before returning to Base at 0315hrs/20Oct.

21Oct44 37th Operational Flight. FSGT E.G Wicky and FSGT O. Mountford departed Thorney Island at 2235hrs as one of twelve 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked for an Intruder Patrol over Holland. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a road junction and headed for home but soon after crossing the Dutch coast, the port engine failed soon so the pilot diverted to RAF Manston in Kent and made a successful one-engined landing at 0210hrs. The aircraft remained at Manston until the engine was repaired.

31Oct44 Aircraft flew seven Operational Flights and made at least one non-operational flight in Oct 1944.

03Nov44 38th Operational Flight. FSGT D.R. Rutter and FSGT A.A. Taylor departed Thorney Island at 0300hrs as one of fifteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to attack Communication Nodes in Holland and NW Germany. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew strafed one vehicle but found no target to bomb before returning to Base at 0545hrs.

18Nov44 39th Operational Flight. FLGOFF L.J Coglan and FLGOFF N.A Stoner departed Thorney Island at 1840hrs as one of fifteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to attack road and rail targets near Velen in North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew strafed six vehicles but found no target to bomb before returning to Base at 2155hrs.

27Nov44 40th Operational Flight. FLGOFF L.J Colgan and FLGOFF R.A Stoner departed Thorny Island at 1959hrs as one of seventeen 464Sqn aircraft detailed to carry out night Ranger operations to attack road and rail junctions in and around the German towns of Unna, Viersen and Cloppenburg. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The aircraft failed to return as was listed as MIA.

Four months later FLGOFF Stoner was returned to London having been hidden by the Dutch underground movement. He reported back to the Squadron CO and related the following information: “On 27/11/44 we were on an intruder patrol over the area Arnhem-Aachen-Cologne-Emmerich. Crossing at Egmond at 2000 feet six 20mm guns opened up. The pilot thought we had been hit but neither the aircraft nor the instruments gave any indication. Six minutes later over Ijssel Mer two explosions occurred. Looking back I saw fire in the after hatch of the aircraft. At the same time the controls went. The Pilot ordered bale out. The emergency hatch jammed but I kicked and pushed it open. The aircraft was losing height rapidly, but the Pilot managed to stagger it up to 1500 feet before I baled out. Landed in a patch of young trees. Before I could get out of the harness four young Dutchmen approached me. One spoke English. He said he could hide me from the Germans who were only a few kms away. Two of the boys went to look for the Pilot and I was taken to a farm. A doctor came within half an hour and fixed up a deep gash in my head. A special hide out was made for me in a barn outside a house where 26 evacuees were living. On 29/11 the Germans arrived and searched the house but somebody had put diphtheria on one room so the Germans quickly left. On 8/12 taken in hand by the Dutch underground and journey back to England arranged for me.”

The same Dutch group who rescued FLGOFF Stoner found FLGOFF Colgan’s body in a nearby field. He had managed to bale out of his stricken aircraft but was too low and his parachute only partially deployed before he impacted the ground.

30Nov44 Aircraft struck off charge. DH.98 Mosquito FB Mk.V1 Series II Serial HP934 served with 464 Sqn from 02Jun44 until 27Nov44, a period of 155 days. During that period the aircraft flew forty Operational Flights totalling 97hrs 46min plus an unknown number of non-operational flights. Total accumulated flying hours with 464Sqn is estimated to be between 140 and 180 hours.

RAAF pilot 413075 Flying Officer Lionel James Colgan (26) 03 May 1918 the son of Percy Claude and Essie Noel Colgan, of North Sydney, New South Wales was KIA. Lionel is buried in Plot 13 Row 12 Grave 100 of the Rusthof Cemetery at Oud-Leusden in Leusden Municipality of Utrecht, Netherlands. Son of Percy Claude and Essie Noel Colgan, of North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He is commemorated on Panel 109 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory; and, on the Sydney City Roll of Honour.

FSGT Colgan (2^nd from right) at RAF Brize Norton 10Jul43

RAAF navigator 417901 Flying Officer Ross Arthur Stoner (21) born 05Jan1923 in Black Forest, South Australia, the son of Mr and Mrs Arthur Stoner of Allenby Gardens in Adelaide, South Australia. Ross survived the crash and upon his return to the UK he was classified as Tour Expired. He remained in the UK with No.1 Personnel Holding Unit at RAF Innsworth until his repatriation back to Australia on 20 June 1945. Ross Stoner resigned from the RAAF in South Australia on 24^th September 1945 with the rank of Flight Lieutenant.

HP935

00Feb44 De Havilland DH.98 Mosquito FB Mk.VI Series II with RAF Serial HP935 was manufactured under licence to Contract No.1680 by the Standard Motor Company Ltd at their Canley facility in Coventry, UK. The aircraft was the 33^rd of 39 aircraft built in the RAF Serial Range HP904 to HP942.

Powered by two 27-litre Rolls Royce Merlin 25 liquid-cooled two-stage supercharged V-12 piston aero engines fitted with exhaust flame dampers each developing 1,635 hp (1,230 kW) driving three-bladed De Havilland hydromatic propellers. Camouflaged overall Ocean Grey with a disruptive pattern of Dark Green over Medium Sea Grey on upper surfaces and sides; prop spinners were painted Medium Sea Grey.

Armament was four 20-mm Mk.II Hispano-Suiza cannons with 150rpg mounted in the fuselage belly and four Browning 7.7mm machine guns with 500rpg mounted in the nose. Provision made for the carriage of either two 50 gallon fuel tanks or two x 500lb bombs in the bomb bay, plus two x 250lb or 500lbs bombs; or a load of 8 x 25lb or 60lb unguided rocket projectiles; or, two 50 gal or 100 gal long range drop tanks under the strengthened wings.

00Feb44 Test flown at Canley by a de Havilland test pilot.

10Feb44 Delivered for acceptance tests to No.27 Maintenance Unit at RAF Station Shawbury, Shropshire.

01Mar44 Delivered to No.417 Aircraft Repair Flight (ARF) at RAF Lasham, Hampshire

04Mar44 Aircraft taken on charge with No.464 Sqn RAAF at RAF Hunsdon, Hertfordshire, to A Flight as SB-C.

31Mar44 Aircraft did not fly any Operational Flights in March but flew at least four non-operational flights.

15Apr44 1^st Operational Flight. FLGOFF L.J Fittock and WOFF J.W Haugh departed Hunsdon at 1605hrs with six other Mosquitos to make a low level attack on the Railway Repair Centre in St Ghislain near Mons, Belgium. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and four x 7.7mm machine guns. The crew bombed the Wagon & Carriage Repair Shop with excellent results and returned safely at 1800hrs.

27Apr44 2^nd Operational Flight. FLGOFF A.R Oates and SGT D.E Spencer departed Gravesend at 1355hrs as one of eight 464Sqn Mosquitos aircraft led by WNGCDR R.W Iredale, tasked to attack a V1 Construction Site at Heudière in Normandy, France. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. Whilst enroute at low level, Oates was flying No.2 to Iredale and it is believed he either caught the lead aircraft’s slipstream or hit a tree. The aircraft went out of control and rolled several times before crashing in flames near the village of Saint Riquier es Plains, Northern France. Both crewmen were killed.

01May44 Aircraft struck off charge. De Havilland Mosquito FB Mk.VI Series II with RAF Serial HP935 served with 464Sqn from 04Mar44 until 27Apr44, a period of 54 days. During that period the aircraft flew two Operational Flights totalling 3hrs 15min and made an unknown number of non-operational flights totalling 3hrs 40min. The aircraft’s total accumulated flight time since manufacture is estimated to be between ten and twenty hours.

RNZAF pilot 416146 Flying Officer Arnold Rex Oates (24) born 02 May 1919 in Gisborne NZ the son of Mr W. Oates and Mrs A. Oates. Arnold was KIA and initially buried by local villagers in the St. Riquier-es-Plains Temporary Burial Ground. In September 1947 his body was exhumed by a British Braves Concentration Unit and on 01 October 1947 he was reinterred in Joint grave E.3 of the Grandcourt War Cemetery, 30km east of Dieppe in the Seine-Maritime district, France.

Arnold is commemorated on the Roll of Honour Wall in the Air Force Museum of New Zealand in Wigram, Christchurch; and, on Panel O.001 of the World War II Hall of Memories, Auckland War Memorial. He is also remembered on the Tokomaru Bay War Memorial; and, on the Gisborne Roll of Honour

Tokomaru Memorial - Grandcourt Cemetery

Gisborne Honour Roll - Gisborne War Memorial

RAFVR observer 1580119 Sergeant Douglas Edwin Spencer (24) born 9 March 1920 the son of Walter and Rhoda Spencer, of Nottingham, UK was KIA. Douglas is buried in Joint grave E.3 of the Grandcourt War Cemetery, 30km east of Dieppe in the Seine-Maritime district of France. He is also remembered on the Family grave in Northern Cemetery in Bulwell, Nottingham, England.

HP988

00Feb44 De Havilland DH.98 Mosquito FB Mk.VI Series II with RAF Serial HP988 was manufactured under licence to Contract No.1680 by the Standard Motor Company Ltd at their Canley facility in Coventry, UK. The aircraft was the 22^nd of 23 aircraft built in the RAF Serial Range HP967 to HP989.

Powered by two 27-litre Rolls Royce Merlin 25 liquid-cooled two-stage supercharged V-12 piston aero engines fitted with exhaust flame dampers each developing 1,635 hp (1,230 kW) driving three-bladed De Havilland hydromatic propellers. Camouflaged overall Ocean Grey with a disruptive pattern of Dark Green over Medium Sea Grey on upper surfaces and sides; prop spinners were painted Medium Sea Grey.

Armament was four 20-mm Mk.II Hispano-Suiza cannons with 150rpg mounted in the fuselage belly and four Browning 7.7mm machine guns with 500rpg mounted in the nose. Provision made for the carriage of either two 50 gallon fuel tanks or two x 500lb bombs in the bomb bay, plus two x 250lb or 500lbs bombs; or a load of 8 x 25lb or 60lb unguided rocket projectiles; or, two 50 gal or 100 gal long range drop tanks under the strengthened wings.

00Mar44 Test flown at Canley by a de Havilland test pilot.

11Mar44 Delivered for acceptance tests to No.27 Maintenance Unit at RAF Station Shawbury, Shropshire.

23Jun44 Aircraft allocated to No.235 Sqn RAF at RAF St Angelo, Northern Ireland.

30Jun44 Allocation cancelled and reallocated to No.248 Sqn RAF Portreath, Cornwall

21Jul44 Aircraft taken on charge with No.248Sqn at RAF Station Portreath, Cornwall.

22Jul44 Sustained Cat.AC damage, repaired on site and returned to service 25Jul44.

29Jul44 Reclassified as Cat.B and underwent a lengthy repair until early January 1945.

16Jan45 Delivered to No.27 Maintenance Unit at RAF Station Shawbury, Shropshire.

20Mar45 Delivered to No.417 Aircraft Repair Flight (ARF) at Epinoy airfield, France.

01Apr45 Aircraft taken on charge with No.464 Sqn RAAF at B.87/Rosières-en-Santerre airfield, located 30km east of Amiens, France. Issued to B Flight.

03Apr45 1^st Operational Flight. FLTLT H.G Hobson and FSGT J.W Barnard departed Rosières at 2205hrs as one of twelve 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to attack road and rail junctions in and around Solingen in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany 25km east of Düsseldorf. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and four x 7.7mm machine guns. The crew bombed a road in Solingen before returning to Base at 0140hrs.

04Apr45 2^nd Operational Flight. FLGOFF J.G Colero and FSGT A.S Jones departed Rosières at 0155hrs as one of eleven 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to attack road and rail junctions in and around Solingen in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany 25km east of Düsseldorf. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and four x 7.7mm machine guns. The crew bombed a road and bridge in Vilsen before returning to Base at 0525hrs.

05Apr45 3^rd Operational Flight. FLGOFF J.G Colero and FSGT A.S Jones departed Rosières at 2130hrs as one of thirteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to attack road and rail junctions in and around Northeim in Lower Saxony, Germany. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and four x 7.7mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed a railway junction near Helmstadt, Bavaria before returning to Base at 0045hrs/06Apr.

06Apr45 4^th Operational Flight. FLTLT F. Foyston and SGT P.J Martin departed Rosières at 2115hrs as one of eleven 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to attack road and rail junctions in and around Northeim in Lower Saxony, Germany. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and four x 7.7mm machine guns. The crew bombed a railway line before returning to Base at 0110hrs/07Apr.

08Apr45 5^th Operational Flight. FLTLT J.F Webster and FLGOFF L.J Willoughby departed Rosières at 0100hrs as one of ten 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to attack road and rail junctions in and around Nordhausen in Thuringia, Germany. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and four x 7.7mm machine guns. The crew bombed a town and strafed a train before returning to Base at 0355hrs.

09Apr45 6^th Operational Flight. FLTLT J.F Webster and FLGOFF L.J Willoughby departed Rosières at 2030hrs as one of thirteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to attack road and rail junctions in and around Cloppenburg in Lower Saxony, Germany. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and four x 7.7mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed a road and the village of Sangerhausen before returning to Base at 0010hrs/10Apr.

10Apr45 7^th Operational Flight. FLTLT J.F Webster and FLGOFF L.J Willoughby departed Rosières at 2135hrs as one of twelve 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to attack road and rail junctions in and around Rohrberg in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and four x 7.7mm machine guns. The crew bombed the town of Zeven before returning to Base at 0135hrs/11Apr.

14Apr45 8^th Operational Flight. FLTLT W.R.H McClelland and SGT J.R Barr departed Rosières at 2115hrs as one of twelve 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to attack road and rail junctions in and around Rohrberg in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and four x 7.7mm machine guns. The crew strafed three villages before returning to Base at 0135hrs/15Apr.

15Apr45 9^th Operational Flight. FLTLT J.E Midgley and FLGOFF J.A Gibbins departed Rosières at 2320hrs as one of twelve 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to attack road and rail junctions in and around Elmshorn in Schleswig-Holstein in Germany. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and four x 7.7mm machine guns. The crew bombed an Autobahn before returning to Base at 0320hrs/16Apr.

16Apr45 10^th Operational Flight. FLTLT J.F Webster and FLGOFF L.J Willoughby departed Rosières at 2030hrs as one of eight 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to attack road and rail junctions in and around Schwerin in the north-eastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and four x 7.7mm machine guns. The crew strafed lights in a wooded area before returning to Base at 2355hrs.

18Apr45 Aircraft moved from B.87 to new base B.58/Melsbroek aerodrome, 12km north east of Brussels, Belgium.

19Apr45 11^th Operational Flight. FLGOFF R.W Montgomery and FLGOFF D.J Balduc departed Melsbroek at 2315hrs as one of twelve 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to attack road and rail junctions in and around Pritzwalk in Brandenburg, Germany. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and four x 7.7mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed a rail and road junction near the town of Pritzwalk before returning to Base at 0225hrs/20Apr.

20Apr45 12^th Operational Flight. FLTLT J.F Webster and FLGOFF L.J Willoughby departed Melsbroek at 0110hrs as one of twelve 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to attack road and rail junctions in and around Brake in the district seat of Wesermarsch district, northern Germany. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and four x 7.7mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed the town of Bremervörde before returning to Base at 0440hrs.

21Apr45 13^th Operational Flight. FLGOFF J.H.H Campbell and FGST G.W Burke departed Melsbroek at 2345hrs as one of thirteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to attack road and rail junctions in and around in and around Cloppenburg in Lower Saxony, Germany. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and four x 7.7mm machine guns. The crew strafed several roads and bombed a village before returning to Base at 0325hrs/22Apr.

23Apr45 14^th Operational Flight. FLGOFF J.H.H Campbell and FGST G.W Burke departed Melsbroek at 2150hrs as one of thirteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to attack road and rail junctions in and around Bremen, capital of the German state of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and four x 7.7mm machine guns. The crew bombed a road junction and village then strafed a convoy of 20 vehicles before returning to Base at 0040hrs/24Apr.

25Apr45 15^th Operational Flight. FLTLT W.R.H McClelland and SGT J.R Barr departed Melsbroek at 2105hrs as one of twelve 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to attack road and rail junctions in and around Bad Oldesloe in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and four x 7.7mm machine guns. The crew bombed the village and strafed a column of twenty vehicles approaching the village before returning to Base at 0040hrs/26Apr.

26Apr45 16^th Operational Flight. FLTLT W.R.H McClelland and SGT J.R Barr departed Melsbroek at 2250hrs as one of twelve 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to attack road and rail junctions in and around Wilhelmshaven in Lower Saxony, Germany. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and four x 7.7mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed the town CBD before returning to Base at 0230hrs/27Apr.

30Apr45 Aircraft flew sixteen Operational Flights and made two non-operational flights in April 1945. From the end of April until early July the aircraft does not appear in the Squadron ORB so it is impossible to state what flights, if any, were made during that period.

06Jul45 Aircraft swung on landing at B.58 Melsbroek and the undercarriage collapsed resulting in Cat.B damage. Aircraft sent for repair and never returned to the Squadron.

25Jun47 Struck off RAF Charge. De Havilland Mosquito FB Mk.VI Series II with RAF Serial HP988 served with 464Sqn from 01Apr45 until 06Jul45, a period of 67 days. During that period the aircraft flew sixteen Operational Flights totalling 41hrs 45min and made an unknown number of non-operational flights.

HR153

00Apr44 De Havilland DH.98 Mosquito FB Mk.VI Series II with RAF Serial HR153 was manufactured under licence to Contract No.1680/C.23 by the Standard Motor Company Ltd at their Canley facility in Coventry, UK. The aircraft was the 41^st of 50 aircraft built in the RAF Serial Range HR113 to HR162.

Powered by two 27-litre Rolls Royce Merlin 25 liquid-cooled two-stage supercharged V-12 piston aero engines fitted with exhaust flame dampers each developing 1,635hp (1,230kW) driving three-bladed De Havilland hydromatic propellers. Camouflaged overall Ocean Grey with a disruptive pattern of Dark Green over Medium Sea Grey on upper surfaces and sides; prop spinners were painted Medium Sea Grey.

Armament was four 20-mm Mk.II Hispano-Suiza cannons with 150rpg mounted in the fuselage belly and four Browning .303 (7.7mm) machine guns with 500rpg mounted in the nose. Provision made for the carriage of either two 50 gallon fuel tanks or two x 500lb bombs in the rear bomb bay, plus two x 500lbs bombs or a load of 8 x 60lb RP-3 unguided rocket projectiles under the strengthened wings.

00Apr44 Test flown at Canley by a de Havilland test pilot.

18Apr44 Delivered for acceptance tests to No.27 Maintenance Unit at RAF Station Shawbury, Shropshire.

12May44 Delivered for storage to No.417 Aircraft Repair Flight at RAF Station Lasham, Hampshire

27May44 Aircraft taken on charge with No.464 Sqn RAAF at RAF Station Gravesend, Kent

31May44 Aircraft made no Operational Flights but made three non-operational flights in May 1944.

10Jun44 1^st Operational Flight. USAAC Captain A.M Wakeman and RAFVR FLGOFF G.S Holmes departed Gravesend at 0011hrs as one of twenty 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to support the D-Day landings in Normandy. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area bounded by the coast, Rennes, Le Mans and Lisieux. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns.

The aircraft crashed into the Thames River soon after take-off and both crewmen drowned. It was assumed that one or more engines had cut out or, the aircraft collided with one of the numerous barrage balloons tethered along the Thames.

Photographed on 09May44 at RAF Gravesend
Captain Wakeman (R) who was the acting A Flight Commander at the time of his death

USAAC pilot O-886291 Captain Andrew M. Wakeman (28) born 24 October 1916 in Fairfield County, Connecticut USA the son of Joseph Howard Wakeman and Eva H Wakeman (nee Mead) of Fairfield. Andrew was KIA and is buried in Plot D Row 7 Grave 51, of the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial in Cambridge, England. He is commemorated on the Roll of Honour in the American Air Museum in Britain, Duxford. He is also remembered in the American Battle Monuments Commission in Arlington, Virginia.

RAFVR navigator 152844 Flying Officer Geoffrey Stewart Holmes was cremated and his ashes interred in the Cremation Memorial Panel 1 of the Scholemoor Crematorium in Bradford, West Yorkshire UK. He is remembered on the RAF WW2 Books of Remembrance at St Clement Danes Church, London; and, on the Bradford War memorial.

Scholemoor Crematorium Panel No.1

Bradford War Memorial, West Yorkshire

HR187

00Apr44 De Havilland DH.98 Mosquito FB Mk.VI Series II with RAF Serial HR187 was manufactured under licence to Contract No.1680 by the Standard Motor Company Ltd at their Canley facility in Coventry, UK. The aircraft was the 13^th of 46 aircraft built in the RAF Serial Range HR175 to HR220.

Powered by two 27-litre Rolls Royce Merlin 25 liquid-cooled two-stage supercharged V-12 piston aero engines fitted with exhaust flame dampers each developing 1,635 hp (1,230 kW) driving three-bladed De Havilland hydromatic propellers. Camouflaged overall Ocean Grey with a disruptive pattern of Dark Green over Medium Sea Grey on upper surfaces and sides; prop spinners were painted Medium Sea Grey.

Armament was four 20-mm Mk.II Hispano-Suiza cannons with 150rpg mounted in the fuselage belly and four Browning 7.7mm machine guns with 500rpg mounted in the nose. Provision made for the carriage of either two 50 gallon fuel tanks or two x 500lb bombs in the bomb bay, plus two x 250lb or 500lbs bombs; or a load of 8 x 25lb or 60lb unguided rocket projectiles; or, two 50 gal or 100 gal long range drop tanks under the strengthened wings.

00Apr44 Test flown at Canley by a de Havilland test pilot

03May44 Delivered for acceptance tests to No.27 Maintenance Unit at RAF Station Shawbury, Shropshire.

05Jun44 Delivered to No.417 Repair & Salvage Unit (RSU) at RAF Lasham, Hampshire. Aircraft prepared for the forthcoming D-Day Invasion. The most noticeable preparation was the application of five 24 inch (61 cm) wide alternating black and white stripes placed 24 inches (61 cm) outboard of the engine nacelles on the wings; and, five 18 inch (46 cm) wide stripes forward of the leading edge of the tailplane around the fuselage.

06Jun44 Aircraft taken on charge with 464 Sqn RAAF at RAF Gravesend, Kent and issued to B Flight as SB-S.

10Jun44 1^st Operational Flight. FLGOFF W.R Hurst and FLGOFF W.R Binks departed Gravesend at 2300hrs/09Jun as one of twenty 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to support the D-Day landings in Normandy. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area bounded by the coast, Rennes, Le Mans and Lisieux. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed lights in a wood before returning to Base at 0145hrs/10Jun.

2^nd Operational Flight. FLGOFF W.R Hurst and FLGOFF W.R Binks departed Gravesend at 0255hrs/10Jun as one of six 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to support the D-Day landings in Normandy. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area bounded by the coast, Rennes, Le Mans and Lisieux. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed lights in a wood before returning to Base at 0510hrs.

11Jun44 3^rd Operational Flight. SQNLDR R.W Hyem and FLGOFF E.J Brayne departed Gravesend at 0020hrs as one of thirteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to support the D-Day landings in Normandy. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area bounded by the coast, Rennes, Le Mans and Lisieux. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a main highway before returning to Base at 0250hrs.

12Jun44 4^th Operational Flight. SQNLDR R.W Hyem and FLGOFF E.J Brayne departed Gravesend at 0210hrs as one of thirteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to attack Le Lesnil Mauger Railway Yards in the Seine-Maritime department, Normandy. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a main rail line before returning to Base at 0435hrs.

13Jun44 5^th Operational Flight. SQNLDR R.W Hyem and FLGOFF E.J Brayne departed Gravesend at 0040hrs as one of twelve 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to support the D-Day landings in Normandy. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area bounded by the coast, Rennes, Le Mans and Lisieux. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed a wooded area before returning to Base at 0340hrs.

17Jun44 Gravesend could not be used because of the high density of V1 traffic, so the aircraft was one of sixteen Mosquitos deployed for operations to RAF Dunsfold near Cranleigh, Surrey.

17Jun44 6^th Operational Flight. SQNLDR R.W Hyem and FLGOFF E.J Brayne departed Gravesend at 0030hrs as one of sixteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to attack road and rail links in the Cherbourg area. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew patrolled their assigned area before returning to Base at 0340hrs.

18Jun44 SQNLDR R.W Hyem and FLGOFF E.J Brayne departed Dunsfold and flew to the new operating base at RAF Thorney Island, West Sussex.

20Jun44 7^th Operational Flight. SQNLDR R.W Hyem and FLGOFF E.J Brayne departed Thorney Island at 0115hrs as one of sixteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to attack road and rail links in support of the Allied Armies. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a rail line near Trappes on the outskirts of Paris before returning to Base at 0315hrs.

21Jun44 8^th Operational Flight. FLGOFF W.R Hurst and FLGOFF W.R Binks departed Thorney Island at 0015hrs as one of sixteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to support the D-Day landings. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the in the area bounded by the coast, Nantes, Dreux, and Gassicourt. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a railway junction before returning to Base at 0245hrs.

22Jun44 9^th Operational Flight. FLGOFF W.R Hurst and FLGOFF W.R Binks departed Thorney Island at 0015hrs as one of sixteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to support the D-Day landings. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the in the area bounded by the coast, Nantes, Dreux, and Gassicourt. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a railway junction near Bernay located 80km east of Caen before returning to Base at 0245hrs.

23Jun44 10^th Operational Flight. SQNLDR R.W Hyem and FLGOFF E.J Brayne departed Thorney Island at 0115hrs as one of sixteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to attack road and rail links in support of the Allied Armies. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed a road near Dreux located 72km west of Paris before returning to Base at 0400hrs.

27Jun44 11^th Operational Flight. SQNLDR R.W Hyem and FLGOFF E.J Brayne departed Thorney Island at 2355hrs/26Jun as one of sixteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to attack road and rail links in support of the Allied Armies. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew strafed a road bombed and bombed a wooded area before returning to Base at 0315hrs/27Jun.

29Jun44 12^th Operational Flight. SQNLDR R.W Hyem and FLGOFF E.J Brayne departed Thorney Island at 2320hrsas one of sixteen 464Sqn Mosquitos plus sixteen from 487Sqn tasked to support the D-Day landings. Specifically, the thirty-two strong force was tasked to harass the 9th and 10th Waffen-SS Panzer Divisions that were laagered around the town of Villers-Bocage in the Calvados department of Normandy. All Mosquitos were loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The strike force attacked numerous vehicles, roads, railways and camps within a five-mile circle centred on Villers-Bocage. The crew reported attacking several targets and noticed many fires burning all over the target area before returning to Base at 0215hrs/30Jun.

30Jun44 Aircraft flew twelve Operational Flights and made at least two non-operational flights in Jun1944.

01Jul44 13^th Operational Flight. SQNLDR R.W Hyem and FLGOFF E.J Brayne departed Thorney Island at 2100hrs tasked for a solo Weather Recce patrol over western Normandy. The aircraft was armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. As the crew boke though the dense cloud near Vire, Normandy they encountered two trucks which they strafed then headed west to the coastal town of Granville where they strafed another truck. Aircraft returned to Base at 2315hrs

03Jul44 14^th Operational Flight. FSGT J.R Mulligan and FSGT W. Kinlock departed Thorney Island at 0135hrs as one of fourteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to support the D-Day landings. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the Chartres area, 90km southwest of Paris. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a train bridge over the Loire River and strafed a road convoy before returning to Base at 0500hrs.

04Jul44 15^th Operational Flight. SQNLDR R.W Hyem and FLGOFF E.J Brayne departed Thorney Island at 0100hrs as one of fourteen 464Sqn Mosquitos detailed to carry out night Ranger operations in Northern France. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a railway tunnel then strafed a train which exploded, before returning to Base at 0505hrs.

05Jul44 16^th Operational Flight. SQNLDR R.W Hyem and FLGOFF E.J Brayne departed Thorney Island at 2325hrs/04Jul as one of twelve 464Sqn Mosquitos detailed to carry out night Ranger operations in Northern France. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed a train before returning to Base at 0225hrs/05Jul.

06Jul44 17^th Operational Flight. SQNLDR R.W Hyem and FLGOFF E.J Brayne departed Thorney Island at 0010hrs as one of sixteen 464Sqn Mosquitos detailed to carry out night Ranger operations in Northern France. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed a woodland area before returning to Base at 0230hrs.

07Jul44 18^th Operational Flight. FSGT J.R Mulligan and FSGT W. Kinlock departed Thorney Island at 2355hrs as one of fifteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to support the D-Day landings. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the Angers area near the city of Nantes. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed enemy MT in a wooded area then strafed a train before returning to Base at 0200hrs/08Jul.

08Jul44 19^th Operational Flight. SQNLDR R.W Hyem and FLGOFF E.J Brayne departed Thorney Island at 0020hrs as one of ten 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to support the D-Day landings. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the Caen-Falaise corridor. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a rail line and strafed a factory before returning to Base at 0350hrs

09Jul44 20^th Operational Flight. SQNLDR R.W Hyem and FLGOFF E.J Brayne departed Thorney Island at 0120hrs as one of fifteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to support the D-Day landings. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges between Le Havre and Rouen. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed a ferry near Quillebeuf-sur-Seine with many hits seen before returning to Base at 0505hrs

10Jul44 21^st Operational Flight. SQNLDR R.W Hyem and FLGOFF E.J Brayne departed Thorney Island at 0040hrs as one of twelve 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to support the D-Day landings. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the Caen-Falaise corridor. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed a wooded area before returning to Base at 0405hrs.

11Jul44 22^nd Operational Flight. FSGT J.R Mulligan and FSGT W. Kinlock departed Thorney Island at 0240hrs as one of twelve 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to support the D-Day landings. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the Caen-Falaise corridor. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed a road before returning to Base at 0520hrs.

14Jul44 23^rd Operational Flight. SQNLDR R.W Hyem and FLGOFF E.J Brayne departed Thorney Island at 2055hrs as one of four 464Sqn Mosquitos and five each from 21 & 487Sqns tasked to support the SAS Operation Bulbasket against the SS. Specifically, fourteen No.140 Wing Mosquitos were tasked to attack the SS barracks at Bonneuil-Matours near Poitiers in the Vienne Department, France. Aircraft loaded with a mixture of 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs and American Incendiary bombs, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns.

The formation crossed the French coast and flew past the target location then swung around and attacked from the east in line astern formation. The attack only lasted for a short time but during that period nine tons of bombs and incendiaries were accurately dropped on the barracks and surrounding buildings. A post-raid report stated ‘target believed completely destroyed’ and the French Resistance later confirmed that the target was indeed destroyed with approximately 150 SS deaths. Importantly, damage to the nearby town of Bonneuil-Matours was minimal and not a single civilian was killed or injured.

Hyem and Brayne dropped their bombs on target and on their way home strafed a train near Redon, Brittany and noticed many hits on the engine and attached wagons. The crew landed Thorney Island at 0045hrs/15Jul.

18Jul44 24^th Operational Flight. SQNLDR R.W Hyem and FLGOFF E.J Brayne departed Thorney Island at 2240hrs/17Jul as one of seventeen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked for Intruder Patrols over northern France to support the D-Day operation. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area bounded by the coast, Rennes, Le Mans and Lisieux. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a railway junction before returning to Base at 0110hrs/18Jul.

19Jul44 25^th Operational Flight. FLTLT H.R Maule and SGT E.R.J Thomas departed Thorney Island at 2240hrs/18Jul as one of sixteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked for Intruder Patrols over northern France to support the D-Day operation. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area bounded by the coast, Rennes, Le Mans and Lisieux. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed two lighted areas in a wood before returning to Base at 0040hrs/19Jul.

20Jul44 26^th Operational Flight. SQNLDR R.W Hyem and FLGOFF E.J Brayne departed Thorney Island at 0240hrs as one of eleven 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked for Intruder Patrols over northern France to support the D-Day operation. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area bounded by the coast, Rennes, Le Mans and Lisieux. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a railway before returning to Base at 0505hrs.

27Jul44 27^th Operational Flight. FSGT J.R Mulligan and FSGT W. Kinlock departed Thorney Island at 0325hrs as one of fourteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked for individual Intruder patrols over northern France to support the D-Day operation. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area bounded by the coast, Rennes, Le Mans and Lisieux. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew strafed and bombed a river road bridge before returning to Base at 0600hrs.

28Jul44 28^th Operational Flight. FSGT J.R Mulligan and FSGT W. Kinlock departed Thorney Island at 0200hrs as one of fifteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked for individual Intruder patrols over northern France to support the D-Day operation. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area bounded by the coast, Rennes, Le Mans and Lisieux. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew strafed and bombed lights in a wood before returning to Base at 0515hrs.

29Jul44 29^th Operational Flight. FLTLT W.C Henderson WOFF R.J Hawke departed Thorney Island at 0005hrs as one of fourteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked for individual Intruder patrols over northern France to support the D-Day operation. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area bounded by the coast, Rennes, Le Mans and Lisieux. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a railway junction before returning to Base at 0230hrs.

31Jul44 Aircraft flew seventeen Operational Flights and at least three non-operational flights in Jul1944.

07Aug44 30^th Operational Flight. SQNLDR R.W Hyem and FLGOFF E.J Brayne departed Thorney Island at 2250hrs/06Aug as one of fourteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked for Intruder Patrols over northern France to support the D-Day operation. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area around the city of Flers, located 71km SSW of Caen. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed a series of lights in woods near the city before returning to Base at 0130hrs/07Aug.

08Aug44 31^st Operational Flight. SQNLDR R.W Hyem and FLGOFF E.J Brayne departed Thorney Island at 0255 as one of fourteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked for Intruder Patrols over northern France to support the D-Day operation. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area around the city of Flers, located 71km SSW of Caen. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed the specified area behind the battle field through dense cloud and returned to Base at 0600hrs.

09Aug44 32^nd Operational Flight. SQNLDR R.W Hyem and FLGOFF E.J Brayne departed Thorney Island at 0245 as one of twelve 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked for Intruder Patrols over northern France to support the D-Day operation. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area around the city of Flers, located 71km SSW of Caen. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed lights in a wooded area before returning to Base at 0425hrs.

12Aug44 Aircraft flew sixteen operational sorties between 12-30Aug to attack retreating German Army elements in the area bounded by Paris-Orleans-Chartres-Rouen (12-26Aug), then in the Charleville-Strasbourg area of Germany (28-31Aug). All but five of the sixteen missions were flown by 402863 SQNLDR R.W Hyem and his navigator 403715 FLGOFF E.J Brayne. Altogether, the Squadron launched 285 individual sorties during the 20-day period which accounted for the destruction of large quantities of stores, ammunition, fuel, cars, trucks, tankers, armoured fighting vehicles and horse drawn wagons. Inevitably, numerous men were also killed and injured during the attacks.

12Aug44 33^rd Operational Flight. SQNLDR R.W Hyem and FLGOFF E.J Brayne departed Thorney Island at 0015hrs as one of sixteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to harass the German Army withdrawal to the River Seine. Targets included enemy vehicles, troops, road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs and armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a road interchange before returning to Base at 0240hrs.

34^th Operational Flight. SQNLDR R.W Hyem and FLGOFF E.J Brayne departed Thorney Island at 0415hrs as one of twelve 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to harass the German Army withdrawal to the River Seine. Targets included enemy vehicles, troops, road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs and armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed lights in a wood before returning to Base at 0610hrs.

13Aug44 35^th Operational Flight. FSGT J.R Mulligan and FSGT W. Kinlock departed Thorney Island at 0030hrs as one of eighteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to harass the German Army withdrawal to the River Seine. Targets included enemy vehicles, troops, road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs and armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed a road bridge before returning to Base at 0210hrs.

36^th Operational Flight. FSGT J.R Mulligan and FSGT W. Kinlock departed Thorney Island at 0325hrs as one of sixteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to harass the German Army withdrawal to the River Seine. Targets included enemy vehicles, troops, road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs and armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed a rail bridge before returning to Base at 0510hrs.

14Aug44 37^th Operational Flight. SQNLDR R.W Hyem and FLGOFF E.J Brayne departed Thorney Island at 0030hrs as one of twenty 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to harass the German Army withdrawal to the River Seine. Targets included enemy vehicles, troops, road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs and armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a marshalling yard then strafed a train before returning to Base at 0345hrs.

16Aug44 38^th Operational Flight. SQNLDR R.W Hyem and FLGOFF E.J Brayne departed Thorney Island at 2155hrs as one of thirteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to harass the German Army withdrawal to the River Seine. Targets included enemy vehicles, troops, road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs and armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a marshalling yard then strafed a train before returning to Base at 2335hrs.

17Aug44 39^th Operational Flight. SQNLDR R.W Hyem and FLGOFF E.J Brayne departed Thorney Island at 0140hrs as one of twenty 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to harass the German Army withdrawal to the River Seine. Targets included enemy vehicles, troops, road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs and armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a river crossing near Candebec before returning to Base at 0305hrs.

18Aug44 40^th Operational Flight. SQNLDR R.W Hyem and FLGOFF E.J Brayne departed Thorney Island at 0055hrs as one of nineteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to harass the German Army withdrawal to the River Seine. Targets included enemy vehicles, troops, road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs and armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew aborted the mission five minutes after departure with a faulty compass and returned to Base at 0105hrs.

20Aug44 41^st Operational Flight. SQNLDR R.W Hyem and FLGOFF E.J Brayne departed Thorney Island at 2255hrs/19Aug as one of nineteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to harass the German Army withdrawal to the River Seine. Targets included enemy vehicles, troops, road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs and armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed then strafed tanks and M.T with good results before returning to Base at 0045hrs/20Aug.

22Aug44 42^nd Operational Flight. SQNLDR R.W Hyem and FLGOFF E.J Brayne departed Thorney Island at 1600hrs as one of twelve Mosquitos detailed for a daylight attack on a large concentration of ammunition and supply trains discovered in the railway marshalling yards at Chagny near Dijon, France. Aircraft was fitted with two jettisonable external fuel tanks; loaded with 2 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. Intense light Flak was encountered at Le Creusot which caused significant damage to the stbd wing. The crew bombed a group of trucks in the yards and strafed several trains before returning to Base at 2005hrs.

23Aug44 43^rd Operational Flight. SQNLDR R.W Hyem and FLGOFF E.J Brayne departed Thorney Island at 0100hrs as one of fifteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to harass the German Army withdrawal to the River Seine. Targets included enemy vehicles, troops, road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs and armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed fifteen enemy vehicles in a wood then bombed a river crossing before returning to Base at 0315hrs.

24Aug44 44^th Operational Flight. FLGOFF W.A Greenshields and FLGOFF E.M Norman departed Thorney Island at 0120hrs as one of fifteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to harass the German Army withdrawal in the Paris-Orleans-Chartres-Rouen box. Targets included enemy vehicles, troops, road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs and armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a road/rail junction and strafed lights in a wood before returning to Base at 0305hrs.

25Aug44 45^th Operational Flight. FLGOFF W.A Greenshields and FLGOFF E.M Norman departed Thorney Island at 2345hrs/24Aug as one of fifteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to harass the German Army withdrawal in the Paris-Orleans-Chartres-Rouen box. Targets included enemy vehicles, troops, road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs and armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed lights in a wood before returning to Base at 0135hrs/25Aug.

26Aug44 46^th Operational Flight. FLGOFF W.A Greenshields and FLGOFF E.M Norman departed Thorney Island at 0200hrs as one of seventeen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to harass the German Army withdrawal in the Paris-Orleans-Chartres-Rouen box. Targets included enemy vehicles, troops, road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs and armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew strafed the Beauvais Tille airfield then bombed a stationary train (with an estimated forty wagons) before returning to Base at 0400hrs.

30Aug44 47^th Operational Flight. SQNLDR R.W Hyem and FLGOFF E.J Brayne departed Thorney Island at 2230hrs/29Aug as one of fourteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to harass German Army elements north of the Somme River near Amiens, France. Targets included enemy vehicles, troops, road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs and armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. Aircraft also fitted with underwing jettisonable long range fuel tanks. The crew bombed cross roads before returning to Base at 0050hrs/30Aug.

31Aug44 48^th Operational Flight. SQNLDR R.W Hyem and FLGOFF E.J Brayne departed Thorney Island at 0015hrs as one of fourteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to harass German Army elements north of the Somme River near Amiens, France. Targets included enemy vehicles, troops, road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs and armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. Aircraft also fitted with underwing jettisonable long range fuel tanks. The crew bombed a train and later strafed enemy vehicles before returning to Base at 0430hrs.

31Aug44 Aircraft flew seventeen Operational Flights and made at least three non-operational flights in August 1944.

10Sep44 49^th Operational Flight. SQNLDR R.W Hyem and FLGOFF E.J Brayne departed Thorney Island at 2350hrs/09Sep as one of seventeen 464Sqn aircraft tasked to attack ferry crossings and rail connections on Walcheren Island in the Dutch Province of Zeeland. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed a lighted area in a wooded area before returning to Base at 0250hrs/10Sep44.

18Sep44 50^th Operational Flight. FLTLT S. Clayton and FSGT H.V Morrison departed Thorney Island at 2105hrs/17Sep as one of fourteen 464Sqn aircraft tasked to attack communication nodes in north eastern Holland and around Bremen, Germany. Aircraft fitted with two jettisonable long range fuel tanks; loaded with 2 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed lights on a canal before returning to Base at 0020hrs/18Sep.

19Sep44 51^st Operational Flight. FLTLT J. Farrally and FLGOFF R.B. Burrows departed Thorney Island at 2030hrs as one of twelve 464Sqn aircraft tasked to attack communication nodes in north eastern Holland and around Cologne, Germany. Aircraft fitted with two jettisonable long range fuel tanks; loaded with 2 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew failed to find a target in their assigned area before returning to Base at 2310hrs.

25Sep44 52^nd Operational Flight. FLTLT J. Farrally and FLGOFF R.B. Burrows departed Thorney Island at 2210hrs as one of twelve Mosquitos tasked to attack airfields in the Cologne region of the Ruhr, Germany. Aircraft fitted with two jettisonable long range fuel tanks; loaded with 2 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed lights on a canal before returning to Base at 0150hrs/26Sep.

27Sep44 53^rd Operational Flight. FLTLT J. Farrally and FLGOFF R.B. Burrows departed Thorney Island at 2120hrs as one of fifteen 464Sqn Mosquitos detailed to carry out night Ranger operations against targets of opportunity in the Ruhr area such as transport, marshalling yards, vans and large factories. Aircraft fitted with two jettisonable long range fuel tanks; loaded with 2 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew failed to find a suitable target in their assigned area before returning to Base at 0110hrs/28Sep.

28Sep44 54^th Operational Flight. FLTLT J. Farrally and FLGOFF R.B. Burrows departed Thorney Island at 2355hrs as one of as one of thirteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to carry out Intruder patrols against targets of opportunity in the vicinity of the Dutch Islands. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed an island coastal road before returning to Base at 0330hrs/29Sep.

30Sep44 55^th Operational Flight. FSGT J.R Mulligan and FSGT W. Kinlock departed Thorney Island at 2100hrs as one of four 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to attack communication nodes in north eastern Holland. Aircraft fitted with two jettisonable long range fuel tanks; loaded with 2 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed a railway station before returning to Base at 0020hrs/01Aug.

30Sep44 Aircraft made seven Operational Flights and made at least ... non-operational flights in Sep 1944.

02Oct44 56^th Operational Flight. FLTLT J. Farrally and FLGOFF R.B Burrows departed Thorney Island at 2240hrs/01Oct as one of fifteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to attack communication nodes and targets of opportunity in the Osnabrück area of Germany. Aircraft fitted with two jettisonable long range fuel tanks; loaded with 2 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed a railway station before returning to Base at 0200hrs/02Oct.

03Oct44 57^th Operational Flight. FLTLT J. Farrally and FLGOFF R.B Burrows departed Thorney Island at 2030hrs as one of fifteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked for a Ranger mission to Münster, Germany. Aircraft fitted with two jettisonable long range fuel tanks; loaded with 2 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed a train before returning to Base 2345hrs.

05Oct44 58^th Operational Flight. FLTLT J. Farrally and FLGOFF R.B Burrows departed Thorney Island at 0025hrs as one of fifteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked for a Ranger mission to Münster, Germany. Aircraft fitted with two jettisonable long range fuel tanks; loaded with 2 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed a wooded area before returning to Base 0340hrs.

06Oct44 59^th Operational Flight FLTLT J. Farrally and FLGOFF R.B Burrows departed Thorney Island at 2145hrs as one of thirteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked for a Ranger mission to the Breskens-Flushing-Goes area in Zeeland, Holland. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew failed to return to Base and but was known to have crashed while attempting a landing at B.51 LG near Lille/Vendeville, France. It was later learned both crewmen were killed in the crash.

07Oct44 Aircraft flew five Operational Flights and an unknown number of non-operational flights in Oct 1944.

08Oct44 Aircraft struck off charge. De Havilland Mosquito FB Mk.VI Series II with RAF Serial HR187 served with RAAF 464Sqn from 06Jun44 to 06 Oct44, a period of 122 days. In that period the aircraft made fifty-nine Operational Flights and made and unknown number of non-operational flights. Accrued operational flight time was 161hrs 05min.

RAFVR pilot (935672) 108623 Flight Lieutenant John Farrally (28) born 1916 in Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada son of Albert Edward and Edith Farrally; husband of Betty Hey Farrally was KIA. He is buried in Plot 6 Row C Grave No.7 of the Lille Southern Cemetery in Nord, France.

RAFVR navigator (1544533) 145033 Flying Officer Robert Brandwood Burrows (33), son of Robert and Bertha Burrows, of Blackburn, Lancashire; husband of Alice Burrows, of Blackburn was KIA. He is buried in Plot 6 Row C Grave No.8 of the Lille Southern Cemetery in Departement du Nord, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France. He is honoured on the Blackburn War Memorial in Corporation Park, Blackburn UK.

Blackburn War Memorial

HR245

00May44 De Havilland DH.98 Mosquito FB Mk.VI Series II with RAF Serial HR245 was manufactured under licence to Contract No.1680 by the Standard Motor Company Ltd at their Canley facility in Coventry, UK. The aircraft was the 10^th of 27 aircraft built in the RAF Serial Range HR236 to HR262.

Powered by two 27-litre Rolls Royce Merlin 25 liquid-cooled two-stage supercharged V-12 piston aero engines fitted with exhaust flame dampers each developing 1,635 hp (1,230 kW) driving three-bladed De Havilland hydromatic propellers. Camouflaged overall Ocean Grey with a disruptive pattern of Dark Green over Medium Sea Grey on upper surfaces and sides; prop spinners were painted Medium Sea Grey.

Armament was four 20-mm Mk.II Hispano-Suiza cannons with 150rpg mounted in the fuselage belly and four Browning 7.7mm machine guns with 500rpg mounted in the nose. Provision made for the carriage of either two 50 gallon fuel tanks or two x 500lb bombs in the bomb bay, plus two x 250lb or 500lbs bombs; or a load of 8 x 25lb or 60lb unguided rocket projectiles; or, two 50 gal or 100 gal long range drop tanks under the strengthened wings.

01Jun44 Test flown at Canley by a de Havilland test pilot

03Jun44 Delivered for acceptance tests to No.10 Maintenance Unit at RAF Station Hullavington, Wiltshire.

14Sep44 Delivered to No.417 Repair & Salvage Unit (RSU) at RAF Lasham, Hampshire

05Oct44 Aircraft taken on charge with 464 Sqn RAAF at RAF Gravesend, Kent and issued to B Flight as SB-Z.

03Nov44 1^st and only Operational Flight. WOFF J.I McCrone and FSGT T.G Phippen departed Thorney Island at 2340hrs as part of a Squadron force of fifteen aircraft detailed to carry out night Ranger operations against communications in Holland and North West Germany. The aircraft failed to return and the crew was listed as MIA, later increased to KIA. Post war investigations determined that the aircraft was shot down at 0130hrs by flak near Arnhem, Netherlands.

RAFVR pilot 658315 Warrant Officer John Inglis McCrone (25), born 30Nov1918 in Kilmarnock, the son of John Inglis and Janet McCall McCrone; husband of Mildred Alice McCrone, of Windsor, Berkshire was KIA and initially buried in the Appledorn Municipal Cemetery. On 4^th October 1945 he was exhumed by the British Army No.37 Graves Registration Unit and reinterred in Section 4 Row D Grave 5 of the Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery in Renkum Municipality, Gelderland, Netherlands. He is remembered in the RAF WW2 Books of Remembrance at St Clement Danes Church, London.

RAFVR Navigator 1339750 Flight Sergeant Thomas George Phippen (21), son of Frederick Herbert and Edith Phippen, of Mount Gould, Plymouth was KIA and initially buried in the Appledorn Municipal Cemetery. On 4^th October 1945 he was exhumed by the British Army No.37 Graves Registration Unit and reinterred in Section 4 Row D Grave 4 of the Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery in Renkum Municipality, Gelderland, Netherlands. He is remembered in the RAF WW2 Books of Remembrance at St Clement Danes Church, London.

HR341

00Aug44 De Havilland DH.98 Mosquito FB Mk.VI Series II with RAF Serial HR341 was manufactured under licence to Contract No.1680 by the Standard Motor Company Ltd at their Canley facility in Coventry, UK. The aircraft was the 11^th of 45 aircraft built in the RAF Serial Range HR331 to HR375.

Powered by two 27-litre Rolls Royce Merlin 25 liquid-cooled two-stage supercharged V-12 piston aero engines fitted with exhaust flame dampers each developing 1,635 hp (1,230 kW) driving three-bladed De Havilland hydromatic propellers. Camouflaged overall Ocean Grey with a disruptive pattern of Dark Green over Medium Sea Grey on upper surfaces and sides; prop spinners were painted Medium Sea Grey.

Armament was four 20-mm Mk.II Hispano-Suiza cannons with 150rpg mounted in the fuselage belly and four Browning 7.7mm machine guns with 500rpg mounted in the nose. Provision made for the carriage of either two 50 gallon fuel tanks or two x 500lb bombs in the bomb bay, plus two x 250lb or 500lbs bombs; or a load of 8 x 25lb or 60lb unguided rocket projectiles; or, two 50 gal or 100 gal long range drop tanks under the strengthened wings.

00Aug44 Test flown at Canley by a de Havilland test pilot

11Aug44 Delivered for acceptance tests to No.10 Maintenance Unit at RAF Station Hullavington, Wiltshire.

23Sep44 Delivered to No.218 Maintenance Unit at RAF Station Colerne, Wiltshire.

03Oct44 Delivered to No.44 Maintenance Unit at RAF Station Edzell, Scotland.

02Dec44 Delivered to No.417 Repair & Salvage Unit (RSU) at Cambrai/Epinoy ALG, France.

04Jan45 Aircraft taken on charge with No.464 Sqn RAAF at RAF Station Thorney Island, West Sussex.

05Jan45 1^st Operational Flight. FLGOFF N.G Gilmour and FSGT L.T Dwyer departed Thorney Island at 0510hrs as one of seventeen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to attack targets in support of the US 1^st and 9^th Army front. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. In very poor weather, the crew bombed and strafed a large concentration of enemy vehicles laagered in a wood before returning to Base 0815hrs.

13Jan45 2^nd Operational Flight. FLGOFF N.G Gilmour and FSGT L.T Dwyer departed Thorney Island at 2150hrs as one of 12 Mosquitos from the squadron tasked to attack targets in the battle area including motor transport and lights in woods. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The areas attacked ranged between St Vith, Burg Reuland, Ulfingen and Carlhausen. On the homeward journey approximately 20 miles off the English coast from Newhaven, Sussex the aircraft detached from the main group for some unknown reason and ditched in the sea. Despite an intensive ASR search the next day no trace of the aircraft or crew was ever found. An investigation determined the aircraft was most likely lost because of a technical issue or, from flak damage received over the target areas.

RAAF pilot 410117 Flight Lieutenant Neville George Gilmour (28), son of George Washington and Marion Maxwell Gilmour of Subiaco, Perth; wife of Evelyn May Christina Gilmour of Fitzroy in Melbourne, Victoria was KIA and has no known grave. He is commemorated on Panel 284 of the Runnymede Memorial in Surrey, UK. He is also honoured on Panel 109 in the Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial in Canberra ACT; and, on the Honour Roll in Melbourne city, Victoria.

RAAF navigator 434587 Flight Sergeant Lawrence Thomas Dwyer (26) born 20^th October 1918 in Pittsworth, Toowoomba the son of Michael and Mary May Dwyer, of Coorparoo, Queensland was KIA and has no known grave. He is commemorated on Panel 284 of the Runnymede Memorial on Cooper’s Hill in Englefield Green, near Egham, Surrey, England He is also honoured on Panel 109 in the Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial in Canberra ACT; and, on the Honour Roll in Brisbane city, Queensland.

HR353

00Jul44 De Havilland DH.98 Mosquito FB Mk.VI Series II with RAF Serial HR353 was manufactured under licence to Contract No.1680/C.23 by the Standard Motor Company Ltd at their Canley facility in Coventry, UK. The aircraft was the 23^rd of 45 aircraft built in the RAF Serial Range HR331 to HR375.

Powered by two 27-litre Rolls Royce Merlin 25 liquid-cooled two-stage supercharged V-12 piston aero engines fitted with exhaust flame dampers each developing 1,635 hp (1,230kW) driving three-bladed De Havilland hydromatic propellers. Camouflaged overall Ocean Grey with a disruptive pattern of Dark Green over Medium Sea Grey on upper surfaces and sides; prop spinners were painted Medium Sea Grey.

Armament was four 20-mm Mk.II Hispano-Suiza cannons with 150rpg mounted in the fuselage belly and four Browning .303 (7.7mm) machine guns with 500rpg mounted in the nose. Provision made for the carriage of either two 50 gallon fuel tanks or two x 500lb bombs in the rear bomb bay, plus two x 500lbs bombs or a load of 8 x 60lb RP-3 unguided rocket projectiles under the strengthened wings.

00Jul44 Test flown at Canley by a de Havilland test pilot

29Jul44 Delivered for acceptance tests to No.10 Maintenance Unit at RAF Station Hullavington, Wiltshire.

14Sep44 Delivered to No.417 Aircraft Repair Flight at RAF Station Lasham, Hampshire.

05Oct44 Aircraft taken on charge with No.464 Sqn RAAF at RAF Thorney Island, West Sussex.

31Oct44 Aircraft made two non-Operational Flights in October 1944.

27Nov44 1^st and only Operational Flight. FLGOFF W.A Greenshields and FLGOFF E.H Norman departed Thorny Island at 1910hrs as one of seventeen Mosquitos from the squadron tasked to bomb and strafe road junctions over northwest Germany and the eastern Netherlands. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The aircraft was homeward bound when it was hit by flak over the Netherlands town of Zwolle in Overijssel. The pilot tried to nurse the crippled aircraft back to base but after flying for another 25 minutes or so crashed near the Dutch town of Middeldijk, in Hattumerbroek approximately 100kms SSW of Zwolle. Both crewmen perished in the crash.

RAAF pilot 409692 Flying Officer William Alexander Greenshields (27) born 12Oct1917 the son of Robert Eadie and Clara Greenshields, of Port Melbourne, Victoria was KIA. He is buried in Grave No.6 of the Zwolle (De Kranenburg) General Cemetery in Overijssel, Netherlands. He is commemorated on Panel 109 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory; and, on the Roll of Honour at Port Melbourne.

William Greenshields has a street named after him in Zwolle, Overijssel Province, Netherlands

RAFVR navigator 55626 Flying Officer Edward Harry Norman (23), son of Edward Richard and Margaret Ellen Norman of Folkestone, Kent was KIA. He is buried in Grave No.7 of the Zwolle (De Kranenburg) General Cemetery in Overijssel, Netherlands.

A memorial to both airmen was unveiled on April 4^th, 1955 in the city of Hattem, Gelderland Province Netherlands.
The text on the plaque reads:

They gave their lives for our freedom on 27 November 1944. The De Havilland Mosquito HR353 of 464 Squadron of The Royal Australian Airforce crashed on this place by which W.A. Greenshields, 27 yr RAAF and E.H. Norman, 23 yr RAF lost their lives

HX858

00Aug43 De Havilland DH.98 Mosquito FB Mk.V1 Series II with RAF Serial HX858 was manufactured to Contract No.555/C.23 (a) by the De Havilland Aircraft Company Ltd at their Hatfield factory in Hertfordshire, UK. The aircraft was the 10^th of 21 aircraft built in the RAF Serial Range HX849 to HX869.

Powered by two 27-litre Rolls Royce Merlin 23 liquid-cooled two-stage supercharged V-12 piston aero engines fitted with exhaust flame dampers each developing 1,635 hp (1,230 kW) driving three-bladed De Havilland hydromatic propellers. Camouflaged overall Ocean Grey with a disruptive pattern of Dark Green over Medium Sea Grey on upper surfaces and sides; prop spinners were painted Medium Sea Grey.

Armament was four 20-mm Mk.II Hispano-Suiza cannons with 150rpg mounted in the fuselage belly and four Browning 7.7mm machine guns with 500rpg mounted in the nose. Provision made for the carriage of either two 50 gallon fuel tanks or two x 500lb bombs in the bomb bay, plus two x 250lb or 500lbs bombs; or a load of 8 x 25lb or 60lb unguided rocket projectiles; or, two 50 gal or 100 gal long range drop tanks under the strengthened wings.

00Aug43 Test flown at Hatfield by a de Havilland test pilot.

18Aug43 Aircraft delivered by an Air Transport Auxiliary pilot to No.85 (NF) Sqn at RAF Station Kirton-in-Lindsey, Lincolnshire.

24Aug43 Aircraft delivered by an Air Transport Auxiliary pilot to No.464Sqn (RAAF) at RAF Station Sculthorpe, Norfolk where it was taken on charge and issued to A Flight as SB-B until Jan44, re-coded as SB-H in March44.

31Aug43 From the day of delivery until early November the aircraft did not fly any Operational Flights, it was only used for training flights.

16Nov43 Aircraft was one of five A Flight aircraft detached to RAF Ford, Sussex for night time Flower Intruder Operations over enemy night fighter airfields in northern France. The detached aircraft were:

HX858 HX901 HX921 HX949 LR258

19Nov43 1^st Operational Flight. PLTOFF D.V Avery and FLGOFF E. Gabites departed Ford at 2050hrs for an Intruder patrol to bomb Juvincourt aerodrome in northern France. Aircraft loaded with two 50 gallon bomb bay fuel tanks; 2 x 500lb MC Mk.II bombs; plus 4 x 20mm Hispano cannons and four Browning 7.7mm machine guns. The crew could not identify the target and returned to base at 2140hrs.

24Nov43 2^nd Operational Flight. FLGOFF A.W.F Barry and FSGT D.T Walsh departed Ford at 2300hrs for an Intruder patrol to bomb Caen/Capriquet aerodrome in northern France. Aircraft loaded with two 50 gallon bomb bay fuel tanks; 2 x 500lb MC Mk.II bombs; plus 4 x 20mm Hispano cannons and four Browning 7.7mm machine guns. The crew could not identify the target and returned to base at 2300hrs.

25Nov43 3^rd Operational Flight. PLTOFF D.V Avery and FLGOFF E. Gabites departed Ford at 2355hrs for an Intruder patrol to bomb Melsbroek aerodrome in Belgium. Aircraft loaded with two 50 gallon bomb bay fuel tanks; 2 x 500lb MC Mk.II bombs; plus 4 x 20mm Hispano cannons and four Browning 7.7mm machine guns. The crew could not identify the target and returned to base at 0155hrs/26Nov.

26Nov43 4^th Operational Flight. PLTOFF D.V Avery and FLGOFF E. Gabites departed Ford at 2055hrs for an Intruder patrol the Florennes area in the Walloon Region of southern Belgium. Aircraft loaded with two 50 gallon bomb bay fuel tanks; 2 x 500lb MC Mk.II bombs; plus 4 x 20mm Hispano cannons and four Browning 7.7mm machine guns. The crew could not identify the target and returned to base at 2240hrs.

29Nov43 5^th Operational Flight. FSGT J.W FOX and WOFF L.G McAllister departed Ford at 2240hrs for an Intruder patrol the Florennes area in the Walloon Region of southern Belgium. Aircraft loaded with two 50 gallon bomb bay fuel tanks; 2 x 500lb MC Mk.II bombs; plus 4 x 20mm Hispano cannons and four Browning 7.7mm machine guns. The crew could not identify the target and returned to base at 0046hrs/30Nov.

30Nov43 Aircraft flew five Operational Flights and at least three non-operational flights in Nov 1943.

01Dec43 PLTOFF D.V Avery and FLGOFF E. Gabites ceased detachment at RAF Ford and returned to RAF Sculthorpe at 1200hrs.

03Dec43 6^th Operational Flight. FLGOFF W.R.H Binnie and FLGOFF S.L Adams departed Sculthorpe at 0045hrs as one of six 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked for Intruder Operations over airfields in Belgium and northern France to support 527 Lancaster & Halifax of bomber command for a raid on Leipzig, Germany. Aircraft loaded with two 50 gallon bomb bay fuel tanks; 2 x 500lb MC Mk.II bombs; plus 4 x 20mm Hispano cannons and four Browning 7.7mm machine guns. The crew was tasked to attack the Gilze-Rijen airfield could not identify the target due to bad weather. The pilot loitered as long as possible before returning to base at 0215hrs/04Dec.

04Dec43 Aircraft withdrawn from operations to undergo scheduled maintenance.

21Dec43 7^th Operational Flight. FLGOFF W.R.H Binnie and FLGOFF S.L Adams departed Sculthorpe at 0840hrs as one of fifteen 464Sqn Mosquitos then joined up with a further 23 aircraft from 21Sqn and 487Sqn for Ramrod R-387 Noball, the first Noball attack against a V1 site at St Agathe d’Aliermont, 18km SE of Dieppe, France. At 0915hrs when halfway across the Channel the raid was recalled because of extreme bad weather both enroute and over the target area.

22Dec43 8^th Operational Flight. FLGOFF W.R.H Binnie and FLGOFF S.L Adams departed Sculthorpe at 1045hrs as one of fifteen 464Sqn Mosquitos then joined up with a further 23 aircraft from 21Sqn and 487Sqn for a repeat of the previous day’s mission. On this occasion eight of the fifteen aircraft bombed the target successfully before the remaining seven were unable locate the target through the thick smoke caused by the large forest fire in the target area. Aircraft armed with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.II bombs and armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.7mm machine guns. The crew returned to Base at 1305hrs.

HX858 SB-B undergoing mission preparation at RAF Sculthorpe, Norfolk. 22Dec43

23Dec43 9^th Operational Flight. FLGOFF W.R.H Binnie and FLGOFF S.L Adams departed Sculthorpe at 0840hrs as one of ten 464Sqn aircraft then joined up with a further twenty Mosquitos from 21Sqn and 487Sqn for Ramrod R-391 Noball, tasked to attack a V1 site at St Agathe d’Aliermont, 18km SE of Dieppe, France. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC Mk.II bombs; plus 4 x 20mm Hispano cannons and four Browning 7.7mm machine guns. Weather over the target was bright and clear, all ten 464Sqn Mosquitos located and bombed the assigned target and returned safely to Base at 1100hrs.

31Dec43 10^th Operational Flight. PLTOFF J.W Fox and WOFF L.G McAllister departed Sculthorpe at 0915hrs as one of thirteen 464Sqn Mosquitos for Ramrod R-401 Noball Mission, an attack against a V1 launch complex at La Plouy Ferme, in the Somme region of France. Intense flak met the aircraft over the target and HX858 was one of four aircraft hit but the crew completed their mission and returned to Base without incident at 1145hrs.

31Dec43 Aircraft departed Sculthorpe at 1230hrs and moved to the Squadrons’ new operating base at RAF Station Hunsdon, Hertfordshire.

31Dec43 Aircraft flew five Operational Flights and at least six non-operational flights in December 1943.

01Jan44 Aircraft sustained Cat.Ac damage in a flying accident which was beyond the unit’s repair capability.

02Jan44 Aircraft sent to a civilian contractor for lengthy repairs.

26Mar44 Aircraft repairs completed and the aircraft delivered by ATA ferry pilot to 464Sqn now located at RAF Station Swanton Morley, Norfolk.

08Apr44 Aircraft moved from RAF Swanton Morley back to RAF Hunsdon.

17Apr44 Aircraft moved from RAF Hunsdon to new base at RAF Station Gravesend, Kent.

20Apr44 11^th Operational Flight. FLGOFF A.R Oates and SGT D.E Spencer departed Gravesend at 2140hrs tasked to conduct an Intruder Patrol over Vechta airfield in Lower Saxony, Germany. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The pilot aborted the mission with engine problems and returned to base at 0050hrs/21Apr.

27Apr44 12^th Operational Flight. FLGOFF C.H.L Foster and FSGT E. Bradley departed Gravesend at 2230hrs tasked to provide support for returning Bomber Command heavies returning from a raid over Germany. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The pilot aborted the mission when weather conditions made it impossible to continue.

30Apr44 Aircraft flew two Operational Flights and a number of non-operational flights in April 1944.

09May44 13^th Operational Flight. FLGOFF W.R.H Binnie and PLTOFF S.J Fleming departed Gravesend at 2250hrs as one of four 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to attack several airfields in northern France. Binnie was tasked for, and attacked, the German night fighter airfield at Étampes, some 50km south-southwest of Paris. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew made a successful attack on the target then returned to Base at 005hrs/10May.

11May44 14^th Operational Flight. FLTLT J. Farrally and SGT W.A Lovatt departed Gravesend at 2250hrs as one of six 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked for Night Intruder patrols against German night fighter bases over northern France and southern Belgium. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew located Melin Air Base in north-eastern France and successfully bombed the runway and hangars before returning to Base at 0105hrs/12May.

21May44 15^th Operational Flight. FSGT J. Carter and FSGT R.S Seaman departed Gravesend at 2250hrs as one of six 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked for Night Intruder patrols against German night fighter bases over northern France and southern Belgium. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew could not locate their target because of poor weather so Carter aborted and returned to Base at 0145hrs/22May.

31May44 Aircraft flew three Operational Flights and a number of non-operational flights in May 1944.

03Jun44 Aircraft withdrawn from Ops to undergo servicing and preparation for the forthcoming D-Day Invasion. The most noticeable preparation was the application of five 24 inch (61 cm) wide alternating black and white stripes placed 24 inches (61 cm) outboard of the engine nacelles on the wings; and, five 18 inch (46 cm) wide stripes forward of the leading edge of the tailplane around the fuselage.

05Jun44 16^th Operational Flight. FLGOFF D.V Avery and WOFF J.J Williams departed Gravesend at 2345hrs as one of twenty Mosquitos tasked to support of D-Day landings in Normandy. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area bounded by the coast, Rennes, Le Mans and Lisieux. Aircraft armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns and loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs and Illumination Flares. The crew bombed eight vehicles on road Q.8885 near Laval before returning to Base at 0150hrs/06Jun.

06Jun44 17^th Operational Flight. FSGT G. Williams and FSGT J. Dunn departed Gravesend at 2330hrs as one of eighteen Mosquitos tasked to support of D-Day landings in Normandy. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area bounded by the coast, Rennes, Le Mans and Lisieux. Aircraft armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns and loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs and Illumination Flares. The crew bombed a road junction before returning to Base at 0215hrs/07Jun.

07Jun44 18^th Operational Flight. FSGT G. Williams and FSGT J. Dunn departed Gravesend at 0001hrs as one of fifteen Mosquitos tasked to support the D-Day landings in Normandy. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area bounded by the coast, Rennes, Le Mans and Lisieux. Aircraft armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns and loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs and Illumination Flares. The crew bombed and strafed a railway line in their patrol area before returning to base at 0240hrs.

10Jun44 19^th Operational Flight. FLGFOFF E.H Dunkley and FLGOFF H.P Woodward departed Gravesend at 0025hrs as one of twenty 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to support the D-Day landings in Normandy. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area bounded by the coast, Rennes, Le Mans and Lisieux. Aircraft armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns and loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs and Illumination Flares. The crew bombed and strafed stationary lights on a main road in their patrol area before returning to base at 0530hrs.

11Jun44 20^th Operational Flight. FLTLT J.L Martin and SGT H.L Morgan departed Gravesend at 0020hrs as one of thirteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to support the D-Day landings in Normandy. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area bounded by the coast, Rennes, Le Mans and Lisieux. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a main highway before returning to Base at 0400hrs.

12Jun44 21^st Operational Flight. FSGT G. Williams and FSGT J. Dunn departed Gravesend at 0250hrs as one of twelve 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to attack Le Lesnil Mauger Railway Yards in the Seine-Maritime department, Normandy. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed a railway marshalling yard before returning to Base at 0520hrs.

13Jun44 22^nd Operational Flight. FLGFOFF E.H Dunkley and FLGOFF H.P Woodward departed Gravesend at 0220hrs as one of twelve 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to support the D-Day landings in Normandy. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area bounded by the coast, Rennes, Le Mans and Lisieux. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed a road bridge over a railway before returning to Base at 0455hrs.

15Jun44 23^rd Operational Flight. FSGT G. Williams and FSGT J. Dunn departed Gravesend at 2335hrs as one of four 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to support the D-Day landings in Normandy. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area bounded by the coast, Rennes, Le Mans and Lisieux. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed Mezidon railway yards, located 30km SE of Caen, before returning to Base at 0225hrs.

17Jun44 Gravesend could not be used because of the high density of V1 traffic passing directly over the Base, so the aircraft was one of sixteen Mosquitos deployed for operations to RAF Dunsfold near Cranleigh, Surrey.

17Jun44 24^th Operational Flight. FLTLT J.L Martin and SGT H.L Morgan departed RAF Dunsfold at 0030hrs as one of sixteen 464Sqn aircraft tasked to attack road and rail links in the Cherbourg area. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew patrolled their area before returning to Base at 0335hrs.

18Jun44 Aircraft moved to new operating base at RAF Station Thorney Island, West Sussex.

27Jun44 25^th Operational Flight. FLGFOFF E.H Dunkley and FLGOFF H.P Woodward departed Thorney Island 0200hrs as one of sixteen 464Sqn aircraft tasked to support the D-Day landings. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area bounded by the coast, Rennes, Le Mans and Lisieux. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed Vire airfield before returning to Base at 0510hrs.

29Jun44 26^th Operational Flight. FLTLT J. Farrally and SGT W.A Lovatt departed Thorney Island at 2305hrs as one of sixteen 464Sqn Mosquitos plus sixteen from 487Sqn tasked to support the D-Day landings. Specifically, the thirty-two strong force was tasked to harass the 9th and 10th-SS Panzer Divisions that were laagered around the town of Villers-Bocage in the Calvados department of Normandy. All Mosquitos were loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.IV bombs; armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The strike force attacked numerous vehicles, roads, railways and camps within a five-mile circle centred on Villers-Bocage. The crew reported attacking several targets and noticed many fires burning all over the target area.

30Jun44 Aircraft flew ten Operational Flights and a number of non-operational flights in June 1944.

03Jul44 27^th Operational Flight. SQNLDR K.D Taute and Sub Lt H.H Becker departed Thorney Island at 0135hrs/02Jul as one of fourteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to support the D-Day landings. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the Chartres area, 90km southwest of Paris. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed a train before returning to Base at 0445hrs.

04Jul44 28^th Operational Flight. SQNLDR K.D Taute and Sub Lt H.H Becker departed Thorney Island at 2325hrs as one of fourteen 464Sqn Mosquitos detailed to carry out night Ranger operations in Northern France. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a road junction before returning to Base at 0250hrs/05Jul.

05Jul44 29^th Operational Flight. FSGT G.W Nunn and WOFF H.L Mitchell departed Thorney Island at 2350hrs/04Jul as one of fourteen 464Sqn Mosquitos detailed to carry out night Ranger operations in Northern France. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a road junction before returning to Base at 0415hrs/05Jul.

06Jul44 30^th Operational Flight. FSGT G.W Nunn and WOFF H.L Mitchell departed Thorny Island at 0020hrs as one of fourteen aircraft from the Squadron detailed to carry out night Ranger operations in Northern France. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed a lighted area in woodlands before returning to Base at 0400hrs.

07Jul44 31^st Operational Flight. SQNLDR K.D Taute and Sub Lt H.H Becker departed Thorny Island at 0020hrs as one of fourteen aircraft from the Squadron detailed to carry out night Ranger operations in Northern France. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the Angers area near the city of Nantes. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a train then strafed the adjacent railway yards crammed with transport vehicles before returning to Base at 0415hrs.

08Jul44 32^nd Operational Flight. SQNLDR K.D Taute and Sub Lt H.H Becker departed Thorny Island at 0215hrs as one of ten aircraft from the Squadron tasked to support the D-Day landings. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the Caen-Falaise corridor. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed a 15km section of the main Caen-Falaise road, numerous MT hit and many fires started before returning to Base at 0445hrs.

09Jul44 33^rd Operational Flight. SQNLDR K.D Taute and Sub Lt H.H Becker departed Thorny Island at 2310hrs/08Jul as one of fifteen aircraft from the Squadron tasked to support the D-Day landings. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the Caen-Falaise corridor. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed a 6km section of the main Caen-Falaise road, numerous MT hit and many fires started before returning to Base at 0105hrs/10Jul.

10Jul44 34^th Operational Flight. SQNLDR K.D Taute and Sub Lt H.H Becker departed Thorny Island at 0055hrs as one of twelve aircraft from the Squadron tasked to support the D-Day landings. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the Caen-Falaise corridor. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a railway station and strafed enemy MT before returning to Base at 0355hrs.

11Jul44 35^th Operational Flight. FSGT G.W Nunn and WOFF H.L Mitchell departed Thorny Island at 0125hrs as one of twelve aircraft from the Squadron tasked to support the D-Day landings. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the Caen-Falaise corridor. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed a wooded area before returning to Base at 0320hrs.

14Jul44 36^th Operational Flight. SQNLDR K.D Taute and Sub Lt H.H Becker departed Thorny Island at 0035hrs as one of five aircraft from the Squadron tasked to support the D-Day landings. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the Thury-Harcourt area SSW of Caen. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed vehicles on a road before returning to Base at 0245hrs.

18Jul44 37^th Operational Flight. SQNLDR K.D Taute and Sub Lt H.H Becker departed Thorney Island at 0245hrs as one of seventeen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked for Intruder Patrols over northern France to support the D-Day operation. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area bounded by the coast, Rennes, Le Mans and Lisieux. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a railway junction before returning to Base at 0430hrs.

19Jul44 38^th Operational Flight. FLTLT W.D Parsons and FLGOFF E. Ramsey departed Thorney Island at 0030hrs as one of sixteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked for Intruder Patrols over northern France to support the D-Day operation. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area bounded by the coast, Rennes, Le Mans and Lisieux. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed lights in a wood before returning to Base at 0230hrs.

23Jul44 39^th Operational Flight. WNGCDR A.W. Langton and FGLOFF H. Sykes departed Thorney Island at 0250hrs as one of thirteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked for Intruder Patrols over northern France to support the D-Day operation. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area bounded by the coast, Rennes, Le Mans and Lisieux. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed roads before returning to Base at 0445hrs.

25Jul44 40^th Operational Flight. WNGCDR A.W. Langton and FGLOFF H. Sykes departed Thorney Island at 2200hrs/24Jul as one of twelve 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked for Intruder Patrols over northern France to support the D-Day operation. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area bounded by the coast, Rennes, Le Mans and Lisieux. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew strafed roads which resulted in a large explosion before returning to Base at 0150hrs/25Jul.

27Jul44 41^st Operational Flight. FSGT E.M Miller and FSGT A. Lister departed Thorney Island at 0200hrs as one of fourteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked for individual Intruder patrols over northern France to support the D-Day operation. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area bounded by the coast, Rennes, Le Mans and Lisieux. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew strafed and bombed lights in a wooded area before returning to Base at 0420hrs.

28Jul44 42^nd Operational Flight. FSGT E.M Miller and FSGT A. Lister departed Thorney Island at 2300hrs/27Jul as one of fifteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked for individual Intruder patrols over northern France to support the D-Day operation. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area bounded by the coast, Rennes, Le Mans and Lisieux. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a railway bridge then bombed and strafed a pontoon bridge over the Loire River before returning to Base at 0210hrs/28Jul.

29Jul44 43^rd Operational Flight. FSGT E.M Miller and FSGT A. Lister departed Thorney Island at 0100hrs as one of fourteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked for individual Intruder patrols over northern France to support the D-Day operation. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area bounded by the coast, Rennes, Le Mans and Lisieux. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a railway junction before returning to Base at 0355hrs.

31Jul44 Aircraft flew 17 Operational Flights and a number of non-operational flights in July 1944.

02Aug44 44^th Operational Flight. FLGOFF A.E Crellin and FSGT T.A Orr departed Thorney Island at 0045hrs as one of fourteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked for Intruder Patrols over northern France to support the D-Day operation. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area bounded by the coast, Rennes, Le Mans and Lisieux. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a railway junction before returning to Base at 0305hrs.

04Aug44 45^th Operational Flight. FLGOFF A.E Crellin and FSGT T.A Orr departed Thorney Island at 0230hrs on the night of 4/5Aug with fourteen other Mosquitos to carry out night intruder attacks on rail junctions, bridges, pontoons, barges, trucks, sidings, trains and marshalling yards. HX858 failed to return and was declared MIA. No trace of the aircraft or crew was ever found.

06Aug44 Aircraft flew two Operational Flights and a number of non-operational flights in August 1944.

00Aug44 Aircraft struck off RAF Charge. De Havilland Mosquito FB Mk.VI Series II with RAF Serial HX858 served with 464Sqn from 24Aug43 until 06Aug44, a period of 346 days. During that period the aircraft flew forty-five Operational Flights totalling 98hrs 34min and made an unknown number of non-operational flights.

RAAF pilot 419296 Flying Officer Albert Edwin Crellin (30), son of Edwin Graham Crellin and Florence Crellin; husband of Doreen Muriel Crellin of Essendon in Melbourne Victoria was KIA and has no known grave. He is commemorated on Panel 257 of the Runnymede Memorial Cooper’s Hill in Englefield Green, near Egham, Surrey, England; and, on Panel 109 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT.He is remembered on the Roll of Honour in Essendon, Melbourne; and, is also remembered by a memorial plaque added to the Crellin family burial plot in the Brighton General Cemetery, Glen Eira City, Victoria.

RAAF navigator 426905 Flight Sergeant Thomas Allan ORR (23), son of Tom and Annie Orr from Bundaberg, Queensland was KIA and has no known grave. He is commemorated on Panel 261 of the Runnymede Memorial Cooper’s Hill in Englefield Green, near Egham, Surrey, England; and, on Panel 109 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT. He is also remembered on the Bundaberg East War Memorial, Memorial Park in Bundaberg.

Bundaberg War Memorial, Queensland, Australia

HX912

00Aug43 De Havilland DH.98 Mosquito FB Mk.V1 Series II with RAF Serial HX.912 was manufactured to Contract No.555/C.23 (a) by the De Havilland Aircraft Company Ltd at their Hatfield factory in Hertfordshire, UK. The aircraft was the 17^th of 27 aircraft built in the RAF Serial Range HX896 to HX922

Powered by two 27-litre Rolls Royce Merlin 25 liquid-cooled two-stage supercharged V-12 piston aero engines fitted with exhaust flame dampers each developing 1,635 hp (1,230 kW) driving three-bladed De Havilland hydromatic propellers. Camouflaged overall Ocean Grey with a disruptive pattern of Dark Green over Medium Sea Grey on upper surfaces and sides; prop spinners were painted Medium Sea Grey.

Armament was four 20-mm Mk.II Hispano-Suiza cannons with 150rpg mounted in the fuselage belly and four Browning 7.7mm machine guns with 500rpg mounted in the nose. Provision made for the carriage of either two 50 gallon fuel tanks or two x 500lb bombs in the bomb bay, plus two x 250lb or 500lbs bombs; or a load of 8 x 25lb or 60lb unguided rocket projectiles; or, two 50 gal or 100 gal long range drop tanks under the strengthened wings.

00Sep43 Aircraft’s first flight at Hatfield by a de Havilland test pilot

05Sep43 Aircraft delivered direct from De Havilland to No.464Sqn where it was taken on charge and issued to A Flight as SB-F.

30Sep43 Aircraft flew an unknown number of training missions in September 1943.

03Oct43 1^st Operational Flight. FLTLT P.C Kerr and FLGOFF B.J Hannah departed Sculthorpe at 0905hrs with 13 other Mosquitos and flew to RAF Exeter, Devon arriving 1102hrs. Aircraft topped up with fuel then departed with 11 other Mosquitos at 1259hrs for Ramrod R-90 and carried out a successful attack on a vital transformer and switching station at Sur-de-Bretagne near St Nazaire, France. Aircraft was loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD Mk.II bombs and armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.7mm machine guns.

RAAF Flight Lieutenant P C Kerr taxies De Havilland Mosquito FB Mark VI, HX912 'SB-F', of No. 464 Squadron RAAF onto the main runway at Sculthorpe, Norfolk, before taking off on the first Mosquito raid mounted by No. 140 Wing of No. 2 Group. Twenty-four aircraft from No. 464 and No. 487 Squadron RNZAF successfully attacked two power stations in France, all returning safely.  

09Oct43 2^nd Operational Flight. FLTLT P.C Kerr and FLGOFF B.J Hannah departed Sculthorpe at 1110hrs with 11 other aircraft to attack an aero engine factory at Woippy near Metz in north eastern France. The aircraft was last seen by the others in a shallow dive heading towards the cloud-covered target area. Later found to have crashed at Schoten, on the NE outskirts of Antwerp. An investigation determined that the pilot had accidentally dropped the bomb load while flying at very low level and the ensuing explosions destroyed the aircraft killing both crew members. The reason for this determination was that the intercom switches had recently changed position and were located very close to the bomb release switch on the control column, and when the pilot went to press his intercom switch he probably (accidentally) pressed the bomb release switch.

31Oct43 Aircraft struck off charge. While serving with 464Sqn RAAF the aircraft flew two Operational Flights and made an unknown number of non-operational flights. Total accumulated flight time was 30.20hrs

RAAF pilot 405106 Flight Lieutenant Phillip Charles Copeland Kerr (25) born Nanango, Queensland 26August 1918, son of Joseph Copeland Kerr and Emily Francis Kerr of Harrisville, Queensland was KIA. He is buried in Section IVa, Grave B.13 at the Schoonselhof Cemetery, Antwerpen Province, Belgium. He is commemorated on Panel 109 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, ACT; and, on the Honour Board in Harrisville, Queensland.

RNZAF navigator 403446 FLGOFF Bernard John Ewart Hannah (30) born 1922, the son of John Gordon Hannah and of Agnes Hannah (nee Malone), of Wellington City, New Zealand. He was KIA and is buried in Section IVa, Grave B.14 at the Schoonselhof Cemetery, Antwerpen Province, Belgium. He is commemorated on the Roll of Honour Board in the Air Force Museum of New Zealand, Christchurch; and, on Panel H of the World War 2 Hall of Memories at the Auckland War Memorial Museum.

Schoonselhof Cemetery, Antwerpen Province, Belgium

Philip Kerr and John Hannah were long time members of 464Sqn and flew Ventura bombers before transiting to the newer, more powerful De Havilland Mosquito. The photograph and description shown below are courtesy of the Australian War Memorial

F" For Freddie, a Ventura aircraft of no. 464 Squadron RAAF, based at RAF Station Methwold. Members of the crew are: 405106 Flying Officer (FO) P. C. C. Kerr, Harrisville, Qld, Captain; 405107 Pilot Officer W. Kirk, Wynnum, Qld; 411873 Flight Sergeant J. B. Cusack, Sydney, NSW; FO J. Hannah, Royal New Zealand Air Force. The emblem on the aircraft represents an Emu and a Kiwi sitting on a Boomerang inscribed "Per Ardua Ad Australian". The BOMBS DEPICT the NUMBER OF OPERATIONAL FLIGHTS and the first was painted after the Eindhoven raid on 1942-12-06, The Squadron's First Bombing Sortie.

HX920

00Aug43 De Havilland DH.98 Mosquito FB Mk.V1 Series II with RAF Serial HX920 was manufactured to Contract No.555/C.23 (a) by the De Havilland Aircraft Company Ltd at their Hatfield factory in Hertfordshire, UK. The aircraft was the 25^th of 27 aircraft built in the RAF Serial Range HX896 to HX922

Powered by two 27-litre Rolls Royce Merlin 25 liquid-cooled two-stage supercharged V-12 piston aero engines fitted with exhaust flame dampers each developing 1,635 hp (1,230 kW) driving three-bladed De Havilland hydromatic propellers. Camouflaged overall Ocean Grey with a disruptive pattern of Dark Green over Medium Sea Grey on upper surfaces and sides; prop spinners were painted Medium Sea Grey.

Armament was four 20-mm Mk.II Hispano-Suiza cannons with 150rpg mounted in the fuselage belly and four Browning 7.7mm machine guns with 500rpg mounted in the nose. Provision made for the carriage of either two 50 gallon fuel tanks or two x 500lb bombs in the bomb bay, plus two x 250lb or 500lbs bombs; or a load of 8 x 25lb or 60lb unguided rocket projectiles; or, two 50 gal or 100 gal long range drop tanks under the strengthened wings.

00Sep43 Aircraft’s first flight at Hatfield by a de Havilland test pilot

05Sep43 Aircraft delivered direct from De Havilland to No.464Sqn at RAF Station Sculthorpe. Norfolk where it was taken on charge and issued to B Flight as SB-M.

30Sep43 Aircraft flew an unknown number of training missions in September 1943.

03Oct43 1^st Operational Flight. Air-Vice Marshall Basil Embry [Air Officer Commanding 2^nd Tactical Air Force] and FLTLT D. Acherley departed Sculthorpe at 0905hrs with thirteen other Mosquitos and flew to RAF Exeter, Devon arriving 1102hrs. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.7mm machine guns. The crew topped up with fuel then departed Exeter at 1259hrs to participate in the Ramrod R-90 attack on a vital Guerlédan transformer and switching station at Sur-de-Bretagne near St Nazaire, France. The AVM flew as tail end Charlie behind the first box of six Mosquitos. On the low level homeward journey the aircraft sustained Cat.Ac damage when it was struck by a large duck or some smaller ducks.

05Oct43 Aircraft damage as assessed as FB/B and was repaired on site by staff from No.50 Maintenance Unit at Cowley, Oxford. Repairs were completed by 04Nov43.

31Oct43 Aircraft flew one Operational Flight an unknown number of non-operational flights in October 1943.

06Nov43 Aircraft returned to 464Sqn.

30Nov43 Aircraft flew an unknown number of non-operational flights in November 1943.

03Dec43 2^nd Operational Flight. SQNLDR E.M Child-Villiers and RAFVR navigator PLTOFF J.R.L Curtis departed Sculthorpe at 0045hrs as one of six 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked for Intruder Operations over airfields in Belgium and northern France to support 527 Lancaster & Halifax bombers for a raid on Leipzig, Germany. Aircraft loaded with two 50 gallon bomb bay fuel tanks; 2 x 500lb MC Mk.II bombs; plus 4 x 20mm Hispano cannons and four Browning 7.7mm machine guns. Half way across the North Sea the aircraft’s compass failed, forcing the pilot to abort and return to Base.

31Dec43 Aircraft flew one Operational Flight an unknown number of non-operational flights in Dec1943

31Dec43 Aircraft moved from Sculthorpe to the Squadrons’ new operating base at RAF Station Hunsdon, Hertfordshire.

01Jan44 Aircraft allocated for use by Wing Commander Flying of No.140 Wing (WNGCDR R. Reynolds RAF). From this date until early June 44 there is no record of the aircraft making any flights whatsoever. However, during this period the aircraft must have made some training flights with Reynolds and, when the Squadron moved from base to base.

17Apr44 Aircraft moved from RAF Hunsdon to new base at RAF Station Gravesend, Kent.

10Jun44 3^rd Operational Flight. WNGCDR R. Reynolds and FLTLT E. Sismore departed Gravesend at 0120hrs as one of twenty 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to support the D-Day landings in Normandy. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area bounded by the coast, Rennes, Le Mans and Lisieux. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a target based on GEE data before returning to Base at 0355hrs.

18Jun44 Aircraft moved to new base at RAF Thorney Island, West Sussex.

27Jun44 4^th Operational Flight. WNGCDR R. Reynolds and FLTLT E. Sismore departed Thorney Island at 0220hrs as one of sixteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to support the D-Day landings. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area bounded by the coast, Rennes, Le Mans and Lisieux. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a railway junction before returning to Base at 0505hrs.

30Jun44 Aircraft flew two Operational Flights an unknown number of non-operational flights in Jun1944

06Jul44 5^th Operational Flight. WNGCDR R. Reynolds and FLTLT E. Sismore departed Thorney Island at 2340hrs/05Jul as one of sixteen 464Sqn Mosquitos detailed to carry out night Ranger operations in Northern France. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a railway cutting and strafed a road before returning to Base at 0305hrs/06Jul.

09Jul44 6^th Operational Flight. WNGCDR R. Reynolds and FLTLT E. Sismore departed Thorney Island at 2359hrs/08Jul as one of fifteen aircraft from the Squadron tasked to support the D-Day landings. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the Caen-Falaise corridor. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed and strafed a road and nearby rail line before returning to Base at 0305hrs/09Jul.

29Jul44 7^th Operational Flight. WNGCDR R. Reynolds and FLTLT E. Sismore departed Thorney Island at 0200hrs as one of fourteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked for individual Intruder patrols over northern France to support the D-Day operation. Targets included road and rail junctions, convoys, trains and bridges in the area bounded by the coast, Rennes, Le Mans and Lisieux. Aircraft loaded with a combination of 4 x 500lb Mk.IV MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a railway bridge before returning to Base at 0440hrs.

31Jul44 Aircraft flew three Operational Flights an unknown number of non-operational flights in Jul1944

14Aug44 8^th Operational Flight. WNGCDR R.W Reynolds and FLTLT E.B Sizemore departed Thorny Island at 2245hrs as one of twenty aircraft tasked to attack any enemy movement in the Paris-Orléans-Chartres-Rouen area. Weapons load was 4 x 500lb MC TD bombs, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew bombed a station and repeatedly strafed a train with 20 attached coaches which was left burning. Crew returned to Base at 0210hrs.

17Aug44 9^th Operational Flight. WNGCDR R.W Reynolds and FLTLT E.B Sizemore departed Thorny Island at 2355hrs as one of nineteen aircraft tasked to attack any enemy movement in the Paris-Orléans-Chartres-Rouen area. Weapons load was 4 x 500lb MC TD bombs, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The crew dropped on a railway station before returning to Base at 0120hrs.

10^th Operational Flight. WNGCDR R.W Reynolds and FLTLT E.B Sizemore had a two hour break while the aircraft was refuelled and prepared for another mission. The crew departed again at 0340hrs loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD bombs, as one of fourteen aircraft tasked with the same mission as previous. On this flight the crew bombed and strafed a railway crossing at Quilleboeuf-Sur-Seine before returning to Base at 0500hrs.

31Aug44 Aircraft made three Operational Flights an unknown number of non-operational flights in August 1944

30Sep44 Aircraft flew no operations and made an unknown number of non-operational flights in Sep1944.

03Oct44 11^th Operational Flight. WNGCDR R.W Reynolds and SQNLDR E.B Sizemore departed Thorny Island at 0001hrs as one of fifteen aircraft tasked to attack enemy rail and road targets in the Osnabrück area of Lower Saxony, Germany. Weapons load was 4 x 250lb bombs. They crew bombed and strafed barges in the port area and also strafed a nearby railway siding. Crew returned to Base at 0240hrs.

27Oct44 WNGCDR R. Reynolds and FLTLT E. Sismore departed Thorny Island with eight other 464Sqn Mosquitos and flew a two hour low-level training exercise for an upcoming Secret Mission to Europe.

28Oct44 WNGCDR R. Reynolds and FLTLT E. Sismore departed Thorny Island with eight other 464Sqn Mosquitos plus seven 21Sqn; six 487Sqn Mosquitos, four HQ 140 Wing Mosquitos; and, one Photo Mosquito. The massed formation flew a two hour low-level training exercise to ensure low-level techniques, timing coordination and formation flying were all in order for the Secret Mission to Europe.

30Oct44 WNGCDR R. Reynolds and FLTLT E. Sismore departed Thorney Island at 0730hrs as one of nine 464Sqn; seven 21Sqn; and, six 487Sqn Mosquitos that flew to RAF Swanton Morley in Norfolk where the crews received their final briefing. . The briefing revealed a strike force would, the following day, attack and destroy the Danish Gestapo Headquarters located on the Aarhus University complex in the town of Aarhus on the Jutland Peninsula. The operation would involve a 1,200 mile (1,931km) round trip including 700 miles (1,126km) over the North Sea. The raid leader was WNGCDR R.W Reynolds and crews were warned that accuracy was vital as the target buildings were located only 250m from two hospital buildings.

31Oct44 12^th Operational Flight. The strike force of twenty-four Mk.VI Mosquitos from 140 Wing, one Mk.IV reconnaissance Mosquito from the RAF Film Production Unit and an escort of eight Mustang Mk.III fighters of No.315 (Polish) Sqn all departed Swanton Morley by 0920hrs and set course for Denmark. Each of the attacking Mosquitos was loaded with 2 x 500lb MC TD bombs and fitted with two long range fuel tanks on each of the underwing pylons and armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns. The formation made landfall near the coastal town of Henne and five minutes later the Mustangs broke away, as planned, to neutralise the German fighters based at the nearby Grove AFB.

The raid was considered an almost perfect operation of its type and the Danes gleefully reported the complete destruction of the Gestapo files and documents. The following extract from the Danish University Records provides a good account of the actual raid “...the attack force entered Jutland around the coastal town of Henne around 11:20 a.m. and the Germans were alerted at 11:36 a.m. As planned, 315 Squadron broke off around Grove and 140 Wing continued on towards Skanderborg. At 11:38 a.m., the first wave reached the rendezvous at Skanderborg Lake, followed shortly after by the other three waves. While the other waves circled the lake waiting their turn, the first wave broke off and reached Aarhus in about three minutes. The crews got a sighting of the dorms with the Gestapo offices and dropped 4 long tons (4.1 t) of bombs. At 11:41 a.m., the first bombs exploded and four minutes later, they were followed by the second wave, then the third and fourth, attacking with incendiaries. The later waves were engaged by flak and a Mosquito from the fourth wave was severely damaged. Instead of returning to base, another Mosquito escorted it across the Kattegat, where it continued on alone to Sweden, landed safely and was destroyed by the crew before they were apprehended by Swedish authorities. The rest of the aircraft exited Danish airspace in their designated waves between 12:16 p.m. and 12:34 p.m.; about two hours later, they landed safely in England’.

Nov-Dec44 No record of any flights during this period

01Jan45 13^th Operational Flight FLTLT B.R Yeats and SQNLDR E. Sismore departed Thorney Island at 1920hrs as one of eighteen 464Sqn Mosquitos tasked to interdict the battle area in front of the U.S 1st and 9th Armies in Belgium/Germany. Their area of operations was bound by Houfllalize-Vielsam (Belgium) and Karlhausen-Martelange (Germany), priority targets were tanks, AFVs and MT. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD bombs under and armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns.

The crew arrived at their designated area in the Rhineland-Palatinate and soon after strafed the town of Neuwied, a nearby train then later on bombed a road convoy near Mayen. The crew were homeward bound when they were diverted to land at Cambrai/Epinoy airfield in France as the entire UK east coast was closed to all air traffic because of appalling weather.

31Jan45 Aircraft flew one Operational Flight an unknown number of non-operational flights in January 1945.

05Feb45 FLTLT B.R Yeats and SQNLDR E. Sismore ferried the aircraft from Thorny Island to the Squadrons’ new operating Base at Landing Ground B.87/Rosières-en-Santerre, locates 20km SE of Amiens in the Somme Department, France.

14Feb45 14^th Operational Flight WNGCDR R.W Iredale and SQNLDR E. Sismore departed Rosières at 0130hrs for a solo Ranger patrol near Bonn in the Rhine-Palatinate area of Germany. The crew strafed and bombed a village containing a row of parked trucks before returning to Base at 0500hrs.

22Feb45 15^th Operational Flight. FLGOFF A.J McMahon and PLTOFF K. Gowlett departed ALG B.87 near Rosières-en-Santerre, France at 1120hrs as one of sixteen 464Sqn Mosquitos assigned to Operation Clarion. This was the largest single-day effort of the War by the RAF and USAF when more than 2,000 bombers and fighters ranged over most of Germany simultaneously and attacked all sorts of transportation targets: road/rail crossings, stations, barges, docks, signals, tracks, bridges, and marshalling yards. Most of the objectives were located in small towns that had never been bombed before. The Operation was designed to force the Luftwaffe to defend the targets and then destroy the Luftwaffe’s fighter strength. Aircraft loaded with 4 x 500lb MC TD bombs, Illumination Flares and, armed with 4 x 20mm cannons and 4 x 7.77mm machine guns.

The aircraft failed to return and was listed as MIA. Post war investigations could not determine what happened on the day but it was assumed the aircraft was shot down by flak probably near Rotenburg, Germany where the aircraft was tasked to operate. The remains of FLGOFF McMahon were never found and he is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. PLTOFF Gower remains were recovered and he was initially buried in the Engelbostel Cemetery, 18km north-northwest of Hannover in Lower Saxony, Germany.

27Feb45 Aircraft struck off charge. De Havilland Mosquito FB Mk.VI Series II with RAF Serial HX920 served with 464Sqn from 09Sep43 until 22Feb45, a period of 532 days. During that period the aircraft flew fifteen Operational Flights totalling 42hrs 12min and made an unknown number of non-operational flights.

RAAF pilot 422870 Flying Officer Allan John McMahon (20) born 18 April 1924 to Jack and Elsie May McMahon of Mosman in Sydney, New South Wales. Allen was KIA and has no known grave. He is commemorated on Panel 283 of the Runnymede Memorial on Cooper’s Hill in Englefield Green, near Egham, Surrey, England He is also commemorated on Panel 109 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, ACT; and, on the Roll of Honour in Mosman, Sydney.

RAAF navigator 426457 Pilot Officer Kennedy Gowlett (20) born 31 March 1924 to Benjamin and Anna Margaretha Gowlett of Toowoomba, Queensland was KIA and was initially buried in Engelbostel Cemetery, north-northwest of Hannover. His body was exhumed in 1950 for identification purposes then reinterred in Plot 1 Row E Grave 16 of the Hanover War Cemetery in Niedersachsen, Germany. He is also commemorated on Panel 109 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, ACT; and, on the Roll of Honour in Crows Nest, Queensland

This extensive coverage of 464 Sqn extends over several pages

Paradie Canadian Archive Database

Allied Losses & Incidents Database

PMcG 2025-03-25

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning we will remember them. - Laurence Binyon