What a wild ride! We were off target on our run … nothing was hit … but we were lucky to make it back in one piece … relatively. I was hit pretty bad, but I'm going to be OK … and I also had some frostbite, but I'm all right now. Renault had some, too. He's also OK. We'll all fly again. Hickey was hit the worst, and Silver got nicked. But we'll all fly again. The plane is a little worse for wear, but it too will be back in action. The damage list sounds like it won't be … but it will. Engine #3 went out, then the starboard wing flap was shot out. Next, the port rudder was hit … and that was all before the target. Coming back, it got much worse. Landing gear, taken out … control cables hit … port wing aileron shot out … #4 engine runaway, shut off and prop feathered … bomb bay doors shot up, tail turret taken out, landing gear brakes shot to pieces … somewhere in here is where I was hit and Crowley took over … flap controls, gone … flight deck heater gone … Crowley tries to maintain altitude … frostbite for Renault and myself … then he dropped a bit lower … tailplane starboard elevator out … aileron controls out …
… so when it came time to land, we were easily able to make the plane go down, that's for sure … but with no landing gear, it was an emergency landing. Thankfully the radio was good, so they knew we were coming in the way we did.