THUNDER BAY II
Mission 61 — 22/24 April, 1944
Maisy, France — Coastal guns
Outbound. We met no resistance until nearly to the target when a Ju-88 got in without being spotted. Our shooting was dismal and there were no hits on it, nor on the following attack (FW-190) which I'm sure resulted from our being coned by search lights. The two attacks were almost simultaneous. Although the 190 was spotted coming in we didn't touch him; one or the other knocked out the bomb release mechanism, put a number of rounds into the waist and bombs, which fortunately did not blow us into kingdom come — a spot of luck that! We took three hits into the wing superstructure, the flap was knocked out, and then finally the 190 put quits to the no 4 engine by drilling holes into the outboard fuel tank (self-sealed). The cockpit had enough holes that I could see stars through them. The 190 finished off his attack by knocking out the mid-upper guns.
Bomb run. Very surprising was the fact that there was no FLAK. However, Nigel had to drop the bombs manually and we were considerably off target; he estimates 0% hit.
Return. There were no E/A attacks on our return.
Landing. Landed at base on three engines.
(Signed) F/O Tony Clearing, Pilot
THUNDER BAY II
Pilot: F/O Tony Clearing
Bomb aimer: Sgt. Nigel Hill
Flight engineer: Sgt. Ramsey Pearl
Navigator: P/O Ralph Baylor
W/O operator: Sgt. Charles Darling
Mid-upper gunner: Sgt. Charles DeWitt
Tail gunner: Sgt. Morris Langley