Mustang Pilot Information

[SteveB]

It’s a few years since I was studying the Dieppe operations and my memory is not so good. I have been back and checked through my material.

The role of the Mustang squadrons was to maintain reconnaissance of the inland approaches to Dieppe inside the area bounded by a line Abbeville - Amiens - Beauvais - Rouen - Le Havre. In the British records I have found very little detail about the areas where 26 Sqn flew their missions and I have found no detail for the 26 Sqn missions that failed to return.

There is more detail for 239 Sqn who flew eight tasks: three missions to the West of Dieppe and five to the East of Dieppe. One mission is recorded as: Le Treport - Envernay - Neuechatel and two missions are recorded Le Treport - Envernay - Blangy. “Neuechatel” is clearly a mistake for Neufchatel. One pilot who returned from a mission recorded that he was intercepted by Fw190s over Envermeu. I cannot find a place called “Envernay” in the area so perhaps this is a mistake for Envermeu. When Gompertz flew his solo mission at 1100 hours his planned route is recorded as Le Treport - Envernay - Blangy.

There is very little detail for each task flown by 400 Sqn. I was mistaken in stating that Burlingam was flying a solo mission but he was flying on his first operation over France. He was flying in a pair and it is recorded that he was last seen near St Aubin.

Thank you for posting the photo of Gompertz. You may have noticed that he seems to be wearing an Army uniform. A lot of the pilots in the Army Co-operation squadrons had transferred from the Army to the RAF.

Steve