D-Day Air Assault
B5 Camilly, Normandy, June 1944

Airfix 1:72 D-Day Air Assault kit A50157A built to interpret ALG. B5/Le Fresne-Camilly, Normandy, France, home of Typhoon MN625 MR-B of No.245 (Northern Rhodesian) Squadron, 121 Wing, 2nd TAF. June 1944.

MN625 was flown by Fg.Off. W Smith who, on 10 June 1944, was made famous as being the first Allied pilot to land at one of the Advance Landing Ground (ALG) airfields in Normandy. This is how the Squadron’s Operations Book recorded it:

“At 0520 hours eight aircraft with R.P. and two fighters airborne to attack reported position of H.Q. Panzer Division. Intense flak of all types was encountered but despite this and much cloud the target was located and successfully attacked. F/O W.Smith was hit by flak and reported excessive vibration and much oil on the windscreen. He was instructed by W/Cdr. Green (who was leading) to put down on the ALG at Banville (B3/Ste Croix-sur-Mer) east of Bayeux. This he did successfully. He was met by a swarm of photographers and high officers who informed him that he was the first pilot to make a wheels down landing in France since D-Day. Apparently this honour was being saved for Air Vice Marshal Broardhurst who arrived some time later in a Spitfire!”

On 17th June, the Advance Landing Ground (ALG) B5/Le Fresne-Camilly was to be 245 Squadron’s new home. This was the fifth airfield to be established in the British and Canadian sector of the Normandy landings. Only about four miles inland from the invasion beaches, it had only recently been freed from shell-fire which had come from German units dug into surrounding woods.

The wire mesh strip or Square-Mesh Track (SMT) which served as a runway was over 5,500 feet long and ran from north to south along the plateau. Surrounding orchards were used to give cover for maintenance hangars and as dispersal points for aircraft requiring servicing. The main HQ was situated at the southern end of the runway and the three squadrons were dispersed to the east and west of it. Anti-aircraft defences were dug in around the perimeters, and slit trenches were adjacent to all working areas.