Take off from base was smooth. North of Frissian Islands, tail gunner Sgt. VanMeester spotted enemy nightfighter coming at us. He fired and reported chunks of port wing tearing away and enemy 110 spiriling away from us. I believe this is Sgt. VanMeester's first enemy kill.
We encountered enemy nightfighters all the way to target. Our portwing took some hits and a hit damaged our tail guns. But no member of crew was wounded. Over target, we were unfortunate to be hit with spotlight and then attacked by enemy nightfighter, I believe it was an Me109. Enemy gunfire put out heat for Sgt. VanMeester, but did no other damage. On 109 second pass, he was hit by nose turret burst fired by Sgt. Sinclair, and we didn't see him again.
We were fortunate to not be hit by enemy flak, but we were a bit off target. However, thanks to some quick last second manouvering, we did hit target with abot 10% of our bombs.
We turned for home and after leaving target area, dropped to altitude of 2300 meters to help Sgt. VanMeester avoid frostbite. We did encounter two enemy nightfighters on flight home, but neither of them inflicted serious damage to us. Sgt. Sinclair hit one of them, apparently damaging it enought that it flew away. As we approached North Sea, we were hit dead on by flak which tore many holes in waist sector of aerocraft.
We made it back to base and landed without incident. SPRINGBOK should be patched up and ready to fly next mission.
Respectfully Submitted,
Roger VanRooker, FO RSAAF
Pilot — SPRINGBOK