We were bounced over water by 110 that surprised us. Jerry damaged us before tail gunner Sgt. Van Meester drove him off, apparently damaging his aerocraft. Our starboard wing root was damaged and Cpl. Steenbergen, the RO, was hit in the head by a shell fragment and was rendered unconscience.
We were again bounced over Germany, a bit south of Hamburg. This Jerry made three passes at us, but the only real damage was to render our starboard rudder controls inoperable. As we approached Berlin, another Jerry came at us, shooting out our tail guns and hitting our Flight Engineer Sgt. Cooper (breaking his left arm between shoulder and elbow!) before being driven off by a good burst by our new MUT gunner, Cpl. Crandel.
On approach to target, we were lit up by a damn Jerry searchlight ! This got us shot at by a patrolling Me109 that came at us from high. Jerry took out our intercom system and did more damage to starboard wing root. Cpl Crandel believes he hit with his MUT guns, but Jerry showed up again, putting a bullet into tail gunner Sgt. Van Meester, lightly wounding him.
Bomb Aimer Sgt. Sinclair still brough us in on target and we believe about 30% hit dead the targeted industrial complex.
On the flight home, we were again bounced by a Jerry 110 over the water, but another good burst by MUT gunner Cpl. Crandel chased him off after his second pass at us.
Medical Officer reports Cpl. Steenburgen will recover, but one can never be sure with such head wounds. Sgt. Van Meester will recover quickly after being sore for a weeek or two and Sgt Cooper will be out for several months with a broken humerous bone in his left arm.
As for Springbok, she will be repaird by our swell groundsmen and be ready for her next go at Adolf.
Respectfully Submitted,
Roger Van Rooker, F.O. RSSFC
Pilot- Lancaster SPRINGBOK