Things started getting lively about halfway across the North Sea. A nightfighter surprised us, shattering Kaiser's leg and knocking Goldberg out with a nasty head wound. Formby left his radio to patch Kaiser up, and Hawthorne went back to take care of Goldberg and to give us a pair of eyes in the tail, at least until he was needed for the run over the target.
Of course, Hawthorne hasn't had much experience riding backward, and the next two nightfighters surprised him. We lost a flap and Hawthorne was wounded. Maybe that focused his attention, because he was able to warn me about the next one, although we still took a lot of damage — none of it serious, fortunately. The Germans let up after that, letting Hawthorne get back to his bombsight, and giving us a nice run over the target. Hawthorne never saw the ground, but he had us lined up on the sky markers, so if they were well-placed we did our bit.
Hawthorne went back to the tail and spotted one more nightfighter at what must have been it extreme range. With Hawthorne's warning, I was able to keep us out of his sights until he gave up and went home.
Kaiser and Goldberg had been waiting a long time for medical attention, so the medics rushed them away as soon as we'd rolled to a stop. Kaiser's losing the leg, but Goldberg's recovering nicely, and should be ready to fly by the next dark night.
Flight-Lieutenant Gregory Gifford
Pilot, Phaesyla
February 1, 1944
142 Peckham Damage Points