Ken Holland was up early at Warmwell and headed to dispersal at 4.45 a.m. but soon after he arrived he settled down on a cot and slept until 8.30. There was a flap after lunch and he took off as Green 3. In his opinion, his section’s formation was‘bloody awful’. They ‘did a lot of cloud flying but saw nothing’. This, and the other fruitless ‘flaps’ Ken responded to over this period were not considered worth entering in the 152 Squadron Operations Record Book. When Ken was released he was off to Weymouth to meet friends and to have a drink. He was back late, or, if you prefer, early and turned in at 1.00 a.m.
While Ken slept before his call to early morning dispersal, John Crossman’s slumber at Acklington was disturbed when he was woken up at 1.00 a.m. and told to report to 46 Squadron at North Weald that afternoon. He may be leaving his squadron but he would soon have a better chance of seeing some action. Of course, it could be argued he was about to see plenty of action! He left Acklington at 10.00 a.m. but didn’t arrive in London at 7.00 that evening. He was already way behind schedule but:
‘There was a raid on and it took some time to get a train to Epping. All the way out, bombs were falling around and the Ack Ack and search lights were in action. Was bringing down a Belgian P/O with me who is also posted to No. 46 Squadron. He has little English. [This was Pilot Officer E.G.A. Seghers who would be killed 26 July 1944] We finally got to North Weald just before midnight to find 46 Squadron is at Stapleford eight miles away. We were not particularly impressed.’
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