Sit Here, Adolf!
Operation: Detailed against Bourg Léopold: — Troop Encampment
Crew: Pilot: F/L Rick Abbotsford; Bomb aimer F/O Brian Holmes; Navigator P/O Colin Bright; Flt. Eng. Sgt. Ryan Hollgrin; W/O Sgt. Sean Hemming; Mid-upper Sgt. Arthur Kingsley; Tail gunner Sgt. George Whipple
Weather en route: Decent.
Opposition:
Outbound: Hit by a Me-110 which splattered the bomb bay door but not bad enough for problems. Tore up the port rudder and destroyed our raft.
Over target: According to Sgt. Whipple tail gunner, the next plane to attack (close to the target area) "sort'a slid under us before I was aware of him. The next thing I heard was a lot rounds tearing into what seemed to be our starboard wing". The Jerry put two sizable holes into the wing root, knocked out the outboard tank that killed the engine, tore a gaping hole in the aileron which then wouldn't respond, and tore up the tail rudder. Our nose gunner, Brian Holmes claimed he put some rounds into the Kraut fuselage and then Brian himself was seriously wounded. When the attack was over "Flight" went up and did what he could to patch Brian up and then took over the bombing duties. Just in time as we were over the target. Leaving the target a Me 110 came at us and destroyed the tail guns, and hit the control cables and oxygen supply and nearly tore the now defunct engine from the wing. The nose gunner took another hit and died before we could stop the bleeding. I told Sgt. Whipple to go on emergency oxygen and stay in the tail to watch for more Jerries and I took us down to 10,000 feet.
Homeward: We met no resistance.
Bomb run: Our run was on and an estimated 30% hit.
Assessment of attack: Looked good
Landing: Ok
Crew casualties (1): Sgt. Brian Holmes: died of multiple wounds.
Comments: That second attack was a strange affair; with the possible exception of the nose gunner, no one actually saw the a/c as far as I can determine. We took a lot of punishment; what really bothers me is we couldn't get Brian out of his compartment fast enough. I don't know if we could have saved him after he took the second hit — the M.O. says probably not as his aorta was badly torn up. I want to commend Sgt. Ryan Hollgrin, our new flight engineer, for his part in taking over the bombing duties and getting us a 30% hit. And I'm just glad the rest of us are down in one piece.
(signed) F/L Rick Abbotsford, pilot, Sit here, Adolf!