and although no explosion was seen, F/O McBride noticed a small column of black smoke on the ground in the area at Map reference A1552. The remaining three aircraft formed up and set course for base all landing safely. This was a very bad loss to the Squadron, as "Babe", as the boys called him, had

F/L J. Carr P/O A.E. Derouin F/O A.C. McBride F/O D.G. Cleghorn F/O W. Anderson F/O A.W. Saunders Armed Recce ' Fighter Cover ' 13:50 15:05 15:10 15:05 15:10 15:05 15:10 Details of Sortie or Flight F/L Carr led the section, armed with 500 lb bombs and escorted by two "clean" Typhoons

F/L J. Carr F/O V.H.J. LeGear F/O A.C. McBride P/O B.E. Bell F/O R.H. Laurence W/O S.A. Church F/O W.G. Davis F/O W. Anderson F/O J.D. Sweeney P/O S. Angelini Dive Bombing ' Fighter Cover ' 09:25 10:45 10:40 ' 10:45 ' Details of Sortie or Flight F/L Carr led the Squadron led the Squadron

Laurence P/O S. Angelini F/O W.G. Davis W/O S.A. Church F/O A.C. McBride F/O I.W. Smith Dive Bombing ' Fighter Cover ' 08:40 ' 09:50 10:05 09:50 ' 10:05 ' Details of Sortie or Flight F/L Carr led the Squadron, armed with 500 lb bombs (.025 tail fused) to cut the railway between Coesfeld

F/L J. Carr P/O A.S. Derouin F/O J. Roberts F/O A.C. McBride F/O R.H. Laurence P/O W. Anderson F/O W.C. Davis P/O S.Angelini P/O I.R. Smith P/O B.E. Bell Dive Bombing ' Fighter Cover ' 12:55 14:15 Details of Sortie or Flight Webmasters note....this entry extremely difficult to decipher

F/O Davis W.G. F/O Stitt J.H. F/O MacDonald R.N. F/O Fraser J.G. F/O McBride A.C. F/O Rassenti N.H. F/O Carr J. Dive Bombing 14:15 15:40 Details of Sortie or Flight F/O Laurence took the lead this time (the first occasion of his career) to bomb the railway running south from Nordhorn, Germany.

W/C Grant F.E. P/O McBride A.G. F/O Smith R.V. F/L Saunders W.L. F/O Laurence R.H. F/O Davis W.G. F/O Marcoux M.A. F/O Hiltz R.A. Dive Bombing 11:25 12:00 Details of Sortie or Flight The Winco Flying led the Squadron this time in the first Army Support show for a considerable while. The

F/O Hiltz R.A. F/O Marcoux M.A. F/O Martin J.G. F/O Laycock M.P. F/O McBride A.C. F/O Smith R.V. F/L Saunders W.L. Dive Bombing & Straffing 07:40 08:50 Details of Sortie or Flight F/O Hogg led the Squadron this time, the target being the railway running east from Raalte, Holland. They

did seem a little odd to some people. F/O A.C. McBride proceeded to the United Kingdom for 7 days leave, F/L J.E. Hogg was supposed to have proceeded also but cannot get off until S/L K.J. Fiset, DFO, returns from leave. Detail of Work Carried Out by No. 439 RCAF Squadron as compiled by in the

F/O Davis W.G. F/O laurence R.H. F/O Martin J.G. F/O Stelter J. F/O McBride A.C. F/O Brown J.A. F/O Cote J.A. Dive-Bombing 07:45 09:15 Details of Sortie or Flight Eight pilots led by F/O Hogg took-off with the intention of cutting the railroad running north from the city of Almelo, Holland.

F/O Martin J.G. F/O Smith I.W. F/O Laurence R.H. F/O Stelter J. P/O McBride A.C. F/O Brown J.A. F/O Saunders W.L. Dive-Bombing 10:05 11:00 Details of Sortie or Flight The Squadron took to the air to attack one of their familiar old targets, namely the railway running from Utrecht, Holland.

S/L Fiset K.J. F/O McBride A.C. F/O Stelter J. F/O Fraser J.G. F/O Hogg J.E. F/O Hiltz R.A. F/O Laurence R.H. F/O MacDonald R.N. Dive-Bombing 13:40 14:00 14:40 ' Details of Sortie or Flight Eight pilots took-off on a Ramrod to bomb the railroad running out of Utrecht, Holland, in a north

S/L Fiset K.J. F/O Carr J. F/O Fraser J.G. P/O McBride F/O Burgess C.L. F/O MacDonald R.N. F/O Smith I.W. F/O Bernhart P.N. F/O Swingler B.P. Dive-Bombing 15:20 16:10 Details of Sortie or Flight The Squadron took-off led by S/L Fiset, DFC, to take part in the second Wing Show of the day.

F/O Martin W.G. F/O Smith I.W. F/O Cote J. F/L Burton W.D. P/O McBride A.C. F/O Laycock M.P. F/O Roberts J. Dive-Bombing 07:45 08:50 Details of Sortie or Flight F/L Monson led the Squadron in this dive-bombing attack on the marshalling yards at Geldern. Each aircraft carried 1000 lb. bombs

F/O Anderson, F/L Carr and F/O McBride on the afternoon of 1 December. "Cosy Cot" directed them to climb to 9000 feet and, after levelling out, maintain a steady 260 m.p.h. Several changes of course brought them over the target, a small town east of Roermond, where at the instruction of control the

and on the second Al McBride's formation counted seven craters between Coesfeld and Dulmen. Medium and heavy bombers had been battering Coesfeld into rubble these days, stirring up so much smoke that much of the area was obscured. When F/L Davis took the third expedition out on the evening of the 22nd

McBride A.C., Al (Mac), F/O, J85728, Pilot, 15 Sep 1944 - 29 Mar 1945, Tour expired with 88 trips and 102:20 operational hours with a total of 1006:50 flying hours. McBurney Dave Cpl Safety Systems Technician F-86 Sabre Circa 1963, Sports reporter for radio station CFN McCann F/O Sabre Pilot Circa

trips) and F/O Al McBride (88). Their places and vacancies in the establishment were filled by F/L J.H. Cook, WO1 E.F.Kidd, F/L A.B. McCully and F/Os D.S. McGibbon and J.S. Brock. Jack Cook already had done one tour in India. When the squadron left Eindhoven its tally for the month(l) was 68 rail cuts,