Just after
crossing into Normandy, his plane suffered
mechanical trouble and P/O Laycock had to
land his Typhoon on an emergency strip in
Normandy.
He returned to his base later in the day
with a bottle of French wine as a souvenir
of the Squadron's first landing in France
(1).
In October
the squadron, which was part of the 2nd
Tactical Air Force was stationed at
Melsbroek airfield, Belgium. Like many
squadrons in 2TAF, it main mission was to
provide close air support to Allied ground
forces.
On 28 October
1944, the squadron was participating in
mission which saw hundreds of bombers and
fighter bombers flying against mainly
railways, but also flying reconnaissance,
attacking bridges and targets of
opportunity.
P/O Laycock
would fly his 77th mission today. He had
already completed one tour of operations and
was well into his second. He and his unit
attacked a heavily defended railway, west of
Deventer. P/O Laycock's Typhoon was hit by
German anti aircraft fire and crashed.
The
Operations Record Book of 439 Squadron
states: "This was the first show in four or
five days and found all the boys keen but a
little rusty. F/L Jimmy Hogg led the
Squadron into the air with 500 lb bombs
(.025 tail) slung on their racks with intent
to prang the rails running west from
Deventer, Holland, at a point about four
miles from the town. It was a beautiful
morning and the target stood out clearly in
spite of a slight haze. The boys approached
from the west so as to avoid the town,
flying parallel to the track; they rolled to
the left and dived from east to west. The
leader had barely commenced his dive when
the flak came up, first a trickle of 20mm
then a dense curtain of 40mm and soon the
88's added to the barrage to create one of
the fiercest flak situations the pilots have
yet encountered. It was inevitable that
someone would get hit, unfortunately it was
J.22835 F/O M.P. Laycock whom fate had
decreed: he burst into flames and spun into
the ground, presumed killed. The others
pressed home the attack however and at least
one pair of bombs found their mark with all
the others coming very close. The Squadron
reformed and returned with an escort of
heavy flak as far as the Rhine, but with no
further mishap.
We had the great misfortune of losing
J.22035 F/O M.P. Laycock who hails from
Fairey Glen, Saskatchewan. It was on the
first show this morning and the Squadron was
bombing a railroad two miles west of
Deventer, Holland, map reference z.8806.
Maurice was another original of 123 squadron
in Canada and has completed 77 Operational
Sorties totalling 73:45 hours. It was a very
tough break for us and the whole Squadron
felt this terrific blow. He had planned on
entering the Ministry when the war
terminates, but fate dealt a deadly blow.
P/O Laycock is
buried at Terwolde general Cemetery.
(picture
courtesy of Mr. Ken Laycock, via Mike
Melnick and Wilco Gorter)