57
On March 24th, the British and Canadian Armies
crossed the Rhine
and from
then on the night tasks became fewer as the Armies could not forecast their
requirements and communications were unsatisfactory. Some tasks, however, were
flown over Holland and, later, up to Hamburg and Oldenburg areas but, for the
most part, little of interest was seen. Day Tasks also diminished in number
though, in the early stages, some of the pilots had grandstand views of the
bombing of airfields and communication centres! But, every day, more and more
of the operational area was overrun and, by the end of April, the normal work of
the Wing had ceased.
On April 7th, the officers gave a farewell party in the Mess at which
many friends from
Brussels
were entertained, but owing to regulations all civilians
had to be out of the Mess by 2300 hrs. The food and drink, which were a fine
tribute to
Don Twidale
and the Catering Staff, probably gave the Belgians a false
idea of how the Air Force live, but everyone enjoyed the party and we were
able to recognise many of the T.A.F. Headquarters Staff among the guests. The
Airmen also held a farewell party on April 9th and, three days later, the Wing
started to
move to
Eindhoven
. No one will pretend that this move was popular as
our accommodation at
Melsbroek
had been modified to our requirements by six months
hard work and the proximity of
Brussels
was a great attraction.
Eindhoven
had
little to offer in exchange and the state of the airfield, where our predecessors
had done little or nothing to tidy up the wreckage left by the Germans, was a
keenly felt grievance.
Since the original jobs had almost ceased to exist, the Wing looked round
for some other ways of using up its energy. 69 were the most enterprising in
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