Give me the night anytime! The Germans were waiting for us as soon as we reached the coast. Our escorts were on the job, and McBride destroyed the single Me-110 that got through as was coming up behind us.
The escorts continued to protect us until things fell apart on the run into the target. Three FW-190's made head-on passes at us. The urge to evade was nearly overwhelming. Two of them missed us, but one hit us nose and tail, disabling the tail turret, and killing Oates, our bomb aimer, outright. That left Quaite as our only defense until McBride could make his way forward to take Oates' place. The FW-190 came around from the port side and took out the #2 engine. A couple Me-110's attacked next. I felt like a fish in a barrel, but somehow they managed to miss us anyway.
A flak burst smashed our starboard flap, and I just toggled our load when I saw the rest of the squadron let go.
We turned for home to meet a Me-109 making a head-on pass. McBride had settled into the nose turret by this point, and got his second kill of the mission. The rest of the trip was uneventful, but we'd already had events enough.
F/Lt David Mann
Pilot, Pug-Nosed Dream
July 5, 1944
74 Peckham Damage Points