"8 August 1944. OPERATIONS: In spite of the haze and general poor visibility, thirteen TAC/R's were flown today, all successful. Information gleaned from these TAC/R's was quite considerable. The largest concentration was twenty plus tanks observed by F/O Rohmer in his morning TAC/R. Possible tanks among houses and trees at 812425. 1 in flames at 863441."
This is a frame that covers the area 863441 on Aug 8th. No obvious signs of smoke Campandré-Valcongrain; Lower Normandy; France | NCAP - National Collection of Aerial Photography
Thanks Guys, both of you for the help. I went through Jean Paul Pallud's 'Ruckmarsch! - The German Retreat from Normandy' to see if he had found any ground photos for these two locations, but no luck. Regards, Pat
Another story to add to the artillery battles of Falaise in August, 1944 from David Bashow’s book “All the Fine Young Eagles”; pages 427-429. Charlie Trainor was shot down on August 19, 1944 in the Falaise area while strafing German vehicles trying to escape The Pocket. From the base at Cristot with only about 10 minutes of flying time, 401(I assume other squadrons as well) shuttled back and forth taking aim at German vehicles who were “nose to tail”. A squadron of 12 pilots could knock out/ destroy 12-15 vehicles. The Spitfires biggest ammunition was 20mm so success was limited against the German tanks. A harrowing story of Charlie, with a brand new pilot as his Number 2 is vividly described... Ellen
Hi Ellen, Can I move your post above over onto the 'Charlie's Church' thread? I would like to do some work to see if its possible to find the crash site. Thanks, Pat
Both were hit by flak and I do not think Fairfield was new in the sense of having never flown a combat mission. He was posted to 401 in late July and flew numerous ops before being KIA that day.
Stephen, thank you for the clarification; this is not something to be mis-represented. Additionally, it seems becoming experienced can happen fairly quickly. The Fairfield family contacted my father for assistance in locating the crash site. I believe they were successful. Ellen