Another run for the "Old Boys" of BENGHASI to earn their "colours" The show was not too hot, visibility was poor, there were no fighters stooging around looking for "fun" and most of the bombs overshot the mark. Rather depressing when the squadron had not fully recovered from the hammer blows dealt it.
Two sea searches were carried out today, one in the morning and and other after lunch, seeking for shipping in the BARDIA area. What between the Royal Navy and the Marylands the Itie shipping concerns are not my idea of a very good investment at the moment. No trace of any shipping - photographs were taken from 6,000 feet.
No operational flying: Oprep No. 135
No flying: Oprep No. 136
Signal received from A.A.H.Q., W.D. on recent successes and future effort required.
The Squadron was cheered considerably by the news of the landings of the First Army and Americans in N. Africa and that there are now five Italian Divisions stranded in the desert without food or water, just waiting to be put in the bag. Those of them who are over-anxious to give themselves up have stones thrown at them by the Pommies to chase them away – the pride of Musso’ s army! The landing grounds in the forward areas are bogged at present, hence the delay in our moving up. The Squadron had a stand down today.
A formation of twelve aircraft followed No. 12 and No. 24 Squadrons to bomb gun positions at CASTEL FRETANO. The target area was straddled; bombs hit the road and track junction. Heavy Ack Ack fire was encountered during and after the bombing run; the light Ack Ack was inaccurate and slight. All aircraft returned to base, the last landing at 11.59 hours.
Sortie Report No. 438