45
return and, though all serviceable aircraft in the Wing made a wide search for
him the next day, no trace could be found.
Pat Ogilvie
had done much for the
Wing during the months he had been in command and his tremendous courage and
sound judgement, based on a wide experience, combined with his almost uncanny
ability to grasp the essentials of a problem were admired by all. His place was
taken on December 24th by
Richard Bowen
, who had just completed the Staff College
Course.
By Christmas, the Hun offensive in the Ardennes, which had started on Dec 16th
had been checked and, on 23rd Dec, the weather improved so that on Christmas Day
29 sorties were flown. This was a welcome change for most of us after the long
periods of bad weather although it caused some dislocation of the Christmas fest-
ivities, but time was found for most of the traditional items and, perhaps because
we were busy, the Season was thoroughly enjoyed; in addition to our own parties,
the Wing entertained 700 local children on Dec 29th and both they and their
Mothers will long remember the day. On Christmas Day,
"Butch" Baker
flew a sortie
over Heligoland from which the Air Survey Liaison Section, which was an R.E.
Section attached to the Wing to advise on all matters relating to survey and was
commanded by
Freddy Hore
, prepared the maps which Bomber Command used during their
raid on April 18th.
On January 1st,
Melsbroek
was
attacked
at 0900 hrs by about 40
FW 190
's
and
ME 109
's who fired off all their ammunition in the course of 25 minutes,
during which they were almost unopposed, as our Bofors guns had been converted
to their anti-tank role in deference to the Hun Ardennes offensive and were loaded
with A/Tk shells. Six
Spitfires
, six
Mosquitos
and eleven
Wellingtons
of the
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