work which would still be done by 140.
During this period, Flying Bombs put in an unwelcome re-appearance and the
first two fell uncomfortably close to the Operations Room. V2 trails were
reported by many pilots and some attempts were made to photograph the launching
sites. Many distinguished visitors were entertained and, in November,
Lord
Trenchard
,
Air Marshall Sir Arthur Tedder
and
Sir Harold Balfour
, Under Secretary
of State for Air, came on three consecutive days, while
Air Chief Marshall Sir
Charles Portal
came a week later.
Another particularly noteworthy event of a different kind was the capture,
by members of No. 7 Mobile Field Photographic Section, of four Germans who had
been hiding since September near Perck, as a result of information provided by
local civilians. Entertainment was on a lavish scale at this period and, apart
from our own cinema which gave good shows every night, there were endless possib-
ilities in
Brussels
.
Night Reconnaissance soon recovered from its temporary lull during early
September and many sorties were flown during October and November when targets
varied between bridges over the Maas and movements on the roads and railways
in the areas immediately behind enemy lines. The railways provided the 'line'
of the month in November from a certain Flight Sergeant in 69 who reported, "There
couldn't have been any movement on the line because all the signals were red!"
During these months 69 met considerable opposition from flak and searchlights and,
on one night (Oct 28/29th), four out of five aircraft came back with flak damage.
On December 11th the Wing suffered a severe loss when
Group Captain Ogilvie
went off in a
Spitfire
to report the weather over the North Sea: he failed to
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+
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