I am pleased to report the safe return to British soil of the Lancaster Heavy Bomber "Sweet Caroline" and her entire crew. Our return to base was delayed a few hours after a short stop at the USAAF base at Goxhill to repair a leak in the port outboard fuel tank.
This being our first mission, I was very happy with the crew's performance. We were tested early and often during the flight. The first attack came half way across the North Sea. A 110 attacked causing some minor damage to our port wing.
We were attacked twice more as we crossed Germany. The first one caused some more minor damage to our port wing along with the port rudder, Elevator and Aleron. When the next 110 attacked, Pilot Officer Stallings took aim with the nose turret and scored Sweet Caroline's first hit. He did enough damage to send the 110 running for home.
Over the target, we stayed out of the spotlights and flak. We did have a close call with a 109, but his guns were unable to hit us. Stallings took over control of the aircraft and guided our bombs to the target.
As we circled around to head home, another 110 attacked us, missing with his first pass. As it circled around to attack from 1:30, Stallings took aim with the nose turret. This time he zeroed in on the 110's engines and German aircraft fell from the sky. What a night for our young bomb aimer!
As we passed north of the Netherlands, we encountered one last 110. Again our Port wing was hit. The 110 turned back towards Germany. I looked down at my gauges and saw fuel levels were quickly dropping. As we flew over the English coast, the fuel guage was just about empty. I decided to land at the old RAF base in Goxhill, Linconshire. We landed with no problem. The Yanks were nice enough to help us patch up the fuel tank and give us enough fuel to make it back to base.
Flight Officer Arthur Hampton
Pilot of Sweet Caroline