Last to return from the canals raid was Mick Martin, who was surprised when he climbed from his aircraft to be met by AVM Cochrane. Cochrane took him to one side and informed him he’d been promoted to Squadron Leader and was to take temporary command of No 617 squadron. How must it have felt to receive this news, with the adrenalin of the mission still running high, tempered with the appauling losses. Martin however was more concerned with the failure of the mission, he told Cochrane he was prepared to give it 'another crack’ the following night. Cochrane declined his offer, 617’s next mission was already set. The Antheor Viaduct lies near Cannes, in Southern France, and across it’s nine arches run the main rail link between Marseille and Genoa. Allied Intelligence estimated thousands of tons of supplies and equipment travelled over it daily to Italy. Despite this, defences on and around the viaduct were fairly light. So it was, the day after the Dortmund-Ems raid, six Lancaster with pilots including the newly commissioned Ken Brown and new arrival Flt Lt Dave Wilson set out on the attack. They were accompanied by six Lancasters from No 619 Sq. based at nearby Woodhall Spa, who’s C/O Wg Cdr ‘Bill’ Abercrombe would be leading the operation. The outward flight was uneventful although ‘Bunny’ Clayton experienced severe icing and turned back. The remaining aircraft reached the target and bombed, some from as low as 350 ft, but despite several near misses the viaduct remained largely undamaged. The Lancaster crews returned to base disappointed and frustrated at their further lack of success, but at least there had been no losses. After the recent fearful loss rate, surviving crews had chance to take stock in September, October with an extended period ‘off ops’. Dams veteran Plt Off Bill Townsend and most of his crew were ‘posted out’ as tour expired on September 17th, while several new crews were ‘posted in’ Low level exercises continued. In the third week of October Mick Martin stood down as acting C/O as a permanent replacement had been found. A few days later on the 25th the highly decorated Wg Cdr Leonard Cheshire arrived. Famous throughout Bomber Command, Cheshire was acknowledged as a fine pilot and an outstanding leader. With No 617 Sq now at full strength with standard Lancasters, the question of what to do with the 14 remaining Type 464 (P) aircraft was debated. Although only used on occasional training flights, with another ‘Dambuster’ raid not fully discounted these machines were expected to be available at short notice. This left 617 Sq with double it’s aircraft requirement which in turn created double the work for the maintenance crews. After much debate ACM Harris agreed to the re-conversion to ‘standard’ of six of the ‘Dambusters’. On November 11th, the day after Cheshire 'officially' assumed command, No 617 Sq was tasked with a return to the Antheor Viaduct. Ten aircraft, led by Mick Martin and each armed with a 12,000 lb ‘Blockbuster’ , set out. Among the aircraft were five of the re-converted ‘Dambusters’, as with the previous attempt there was little opposition over the target. However most aircraft had been fitted with the new SABS bomb sight and possibly due to unfamiliarity with this, bombs either under or overshot the target. Ken Brown bombed a railway bridge further down the line with some success. After the raid all aircraft once again stopped over at Bilda,in North Africa, leaving on the 15th. Flying around the coast of Portugal and across the Bay of Biscay, when they arrived back at Coningsby one aircraft, flown by Flt Lt Ted Youseman, was missing. No trace of aircraft or crew was ever found. During the next few weeks, 5 operations and all training was cancelled due to incessant rain. During this period Cheshire was asked to supply three aircraft and crews for ‘Special Operations’ to be flown from RAF Tempsford, near Cambridge........