6 Bomber Group July 1, 1944
11 Halifaxes from 420, 425, 426, 431, 432, and 434 were ordered on an operation to the V-1 launching site at Biennais. The crews were over the target at between 12,000 and 14,000 feet, releasing 797,000 lbs of high explosives. According to reports, the target was cloud covered. Richard Koval (6bombergroup.ca)
401 City of Westmount Squadron (Mors Celerrima Hostibus) RAF B4, Beny-sur-Mer, France. Spitfire IX aircraft ML 135 YO-D, flown by Flight Lieutenant (then Flying Officer) GD "Jerry" Billing (RCAF) was hit by flak while on patrol and force landed, 7 miles South of Carentan, France. Billing survived, evading capture in swampy area for several days before finding refuge in the town Brehal, France where the Le Bourgois family cared for his injuries and hid him from the Germans, not as Resistance members but as ordinary French citizens who risked all to help him. Billing was liberated by advancing US Forces 1944-07-31 and returned to the UK where he was told that due to his evasion experience, he could no longer fly combat missions in order to protect those who had helped him
RAF Evaders, The Comprehensive Story of Thousands of Escapers and Their Escape Lines, Western Europe 1940-1945 by Oliver Clutton-Brock, page 351
IS9-3348