We saw no action over the North Sea, but a succession of Me-110's attacked us between the coast and Berlin. Ken spotted the first one coming up behind us, and took it out before a shot was fired at us.
We were almost as lucky with the next one. It shot up our starboard landing gear before anyone spotted it, but as I was throwing Wasat around, Winston, our new Bomb Aimer, got off a shot that blew that 110 apart.
The next one conducted a running battle with us all the way to the target. We were hit a few times (nothing serious) before we shook him off.
Although I managed to dodge the searchlights, the Berlin flak batteries had us pegged. The starboard rudder stopped responding, and our tailwheel was chewed up, but the rest of the fragments just made holes here and there. The flak kept Winston from lining up on the target indicators, too.
Once we'd left the environs of Berlin, another 110 suprised us, shooting up the ammunition supply for the tail guns before we escaped. Fortunately, we encountered no more night fighters on the way home.
We set down safely despite the damage to the landing gear and tailwheel.
Flight-Lieutenant Jonathan Bacon
Pilot, Wasat
September 22, 1943
162 Peckham Damage Points