All available officers and men of the squadron attended a special parade and church service – the latter conducted by the Bishop of Pretoria – this morning. The S.A.A.F. Base Depot was formally declared open by Maj. General Theron, who after referring to the benefits that would ensue to the S.A.A.F. as a whole, referred to the camp as a "little bit of South Africa”.
The afternoon was marked by an exciting cricket match between ground personnel and flying crews of this squadron, which ended with a one-run victory for the "landlubbers".
This morning we sent five machines with 13 Bostons to bomb M.T. on the road just North of GABES. The raid was fairly successful the A.A.was not too kind but no damage was done. In the afternoon we sent another six machines with 12 Bostons to bomb an Aerodrome near SFAX but the formation met cloud and they had to turn back without reaching the target area. This afternoon we heard the distressing news that Lt. WEIR had been killed in a crash at SERTAN, where he was flying at 51 R.S.U. No details are available as yet. Sortie Report 245 and Oprep 245 with Crew List.
The weather improved considerably and three operations were carried out to-day. The target for the first was a stretch of railway in a defile about 5 miles S.W. of POPOLI. Vics bombed independently, all bombs falling in close patterns with numerous direct hits on railway and road, and two bombs burst at tunnel mouth. There was an escort of six Spitfires and no enemy opposition. All aircraft back at 10.15 hours. Sortie Report No. 609.
The target for the third raid of the day was an Ammo. Dump near SORA. On arrival in target area 10/10 cloud was again encountered. After cruising around formation failed to find gaps in cloud and returned with bombs. Two aircraft jettisoned bombs in sea near base as a precaution against inexperienced pilots landing with bomb load. Last aircraft down at base at 18.00 hours.
Sortie Report No. 611.
Squadron Routine Order No. 27/44