633 Squadron

by Frederick E. Smith

Published 28 August 1975
Vesuvius - this was the mission on which the success of D-Day depended. The chosen squadron was no. 633, and their target was a fjord in Norway, where the Germans were known to be developing something so secret that not even the crews of the Mosquitoes which were to fly on the mission could be told about it. All they do know is that they will be flying in low, between the steep mountain walls, without fighter support. Most of them will be flying one way only...

After the near-suicide mission to the Norwegian fjord, which had claimed so many lives, morale among what was left of 633 Squadron is at its lowest ebb. Unbearable tension, stupid wrangling among the survivors and problems with replacement recruits are tearing the squadron apart. The new Commander, Ian Moor - young, brilliant and determined - knows that the only thing that will pull it together again is the challenge of another vital mission. The Germans are developing a new anti-aircraft rocket, code name Rhine Maiden, which poses the most deadly threat so far to the Allies' invasion plans. So the top brass decide that 633 Squadron should first flatten the rocket factory on a bombing run, and then make a daring strike on an underground target buried deep in a Bavarian valley - in broad daylight...