He flew with a Handley Page Halifax (type III, serial NA522, code MP-).
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS
(Eighth Air Force): Mission 340: 168 bombers and 185 fighters are dispatched to hit NOBALL (V-weapon) targets in France; 90 B-17s dispatched to the Pas de Calais area return to base with bombs due to cloud cover over the target; 70 of 78 B-24s hit Siracourt; 48 B-17s are damaged.
Escort is provided by 57 Ninth Air Force P-38s, 47 P-47s and 81 P-51s without loss.
Mission 341: 5 of 5 B-17s drop 3.22 million leaflets on 19 towns in France and Belgium; 1 B-17 encounters a night fighter and claims 0-1-0; the B-17 is damaged.
22 B-24s are dispatched on CARPETBAGGER operations.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS
(Ninth Air Force): 75 B-26s and A-20s dispatched to attack coastal defenses abort the mission because of weather.
422d Night Fighter Squadron, 71st Fighter Wing, moves from Charmy Down to Scorton, England with P-61s; first mission is 3 Jul.
On 6 days during this period, Bomber Command Oboe Mosquitos flew as 'formation leaders' in Second Tactical Air Force attacks on small targets in Northern France. There were no losses from the 12 Bomber Command sorties flown.
16 Halifaxes and 12 Stirlings minelaying off Channel and Biscay ports, 30 aircraft on Resistance operations, 6 OTU sorties. No losses.
149 aircraft - 77 Halifaxes, 64 Lancasters, 8 Mosquitos - of Nos 4 and 8 Groups attacked railway installations in the Gassicourt suburb of Mantes La Jolie, to the west of Paris. 2 Lancasters and 1 Halifax lost. Bomber Command's records state that 'stores depots and locomotive sheds' were severely damaged but the local report shows that some of the bombing fell outside the railway objective. The western part of the town - including 'old Mantes', the suburb of Gassicourt and the hamlet of Dennemont - were all bombed.
64 Lancasters and 4 Mosquitos of No 5 Group attacked an ammunition dump at Sable Sur Sarthe which was destroyed by 'enormous explosions'. No aircraft lost.
52 Lancasters of No 1 Group attacked an ammunition dump at Aubigne accurately and the entire target was destroyed. 1 aircraft lost. The only Lancaster shot down on this raid, from No 576 Squadron, contained a senior officer who was flying as second pilot. This was Air Commodore R Ivelaw-Chapman, who was commanding a 'base' (usually 3 airfields) in No 1 Group. Ivelaw-Chapman had only just taken up this position after a staff job in which he had had access to details of the coming invasion. There was great anxiety in England that, if he became a prisoner of war, the Germans might hand him over to the Gestapo for questioning. He was taken prisoner but the Germans never realized his importance and he was treated in the normal manner.
28 Mosquitos to Ludwigshafen, 5 to Leverkusen and 2 to Châteaudun, 9 RCM sorties, 9 Serrate and 5 Intruder patrols, 8 Halifaxes and 6 Stirlings minelaying off Biscay ports. 33 aircraft on Resistance operations, 6 OTU sorties. 1 Mosquito lost from the Leverkusen raid.
Total effort for the night: 380 sorties, 5 aircraft (1.3 per cent) lost.
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