Ain't No Lady
Mission 67 — 18/19 May, 1944
Brest — Airfield
We were attacked as we neared the coast; a Me-110 took out our starboard elevator. On his second pass Sgt. Tom Creswell in the nose put enough lead into him that he missed and left. A little further another 110 blew off our tail wheel and on his third pass he destroyed the starboard aileron. He put a lot of rounds into us but we were very fortunate in that they didn't hit any vital areas.
Over the target we were picked up by a search light which put a Me-109 on us. His first pass he got more than he gave as the nose gunner distracted him, but on the next pass he destroyed the port aileron and started an oxygen fire in the pilot compartment which we were able to extinguish. We went on emergency air long enough for the bombing run to be on with an estimated 94% on target. I immediately took us down to 10,000 feet where we stayed on an eventless return trip.
Landing was iffy with both ailerons u/l but we made it okay.
(Signed) F/O Chris Donovan, Pilot
Ain't No Lady
Pilot: F/O Chris Donovan
Bomb aimer: Sgt. Tom Creswell
Flight engineer: Sgt. Felix Helms
Navigator: P/O Ralph Langley
W/O operator: Sgt. Giuseppe "Gus" Moretti
Mid-upper gunner: Sgt. Les Wheatfield
Tail gunner: Sgt. Brian Delaney