RAF Luqa, Malta

F/Lt Jackson and P/O Austin receive orders to return to the UK. One Whitley is undergoing a 40-hour inspection, and poor weather over the UK prevents the other from leaving; on a direct route from Malta the two Whitleys will be near the limit of their endurance, with little margin for error given the navigation problems of flying across the Mediterranean before crossing a hostile France.

Sources

TNA AIR 20/8334. Encl. 103A