We entered the bomber stream with most of the crew looking for a chance at revenge against the Hun.
It was a quiet trip until we hit Zone 6. An ME 110 surprised us. On the initial pass we took a hit on both the starboard and port wing. The port wing caused this wing aileron to become inoperable. Another hit knocked out the heat to the pilot compartment.
Subsequent attack resulted in them missing us.
We dropped to 10,000 feet because of the heat being out but decided to continue on to the target.
Over the target we were surprised by another Tame Boar. The initial pass missed us and then Harry Downing managed to shred his port wing. The plane nosed over and dived out of control.
Despite the bad weather we were picked up by a searchlight. A Wild Boar, ME 109, attacked from 12 High but was blasted by Randal Upton.
Flak hit our aircraft as we were spotted by the searchlight. We took hit after hit but amazingly, with one exception, they were all superficial damage. The one exception knocked out our tail guns.
Despite the lousy weather, the flak hit, and being spotlighted, we were still able to get the bombs on the target.
We were hoping for a quiet return but another Tame Boar hit us in Zone 8. In its surprise attack it did some superficial damage to the waist of the plane and damaged the starboard wing root. Subsequent attacks missed us and did no damage.
Then in Zone 7 searchlights spotted us again. Archie was coming up heavy buy amazingly all missed us.
The rest of the trip was uneventful and we landed safely.
Submitted —
F/ Sgt James Griffin