We were doing well, encountering no enemy at all, until we were almost to the target. Then we were hit by a 110. We were hit hard, very hard.
The plane came out of nowhere and blasted us. We lost the radio, rubber rafts, the number one and three engines. We were in dire straits but Toombs managed to drive off the fighter.
It was a miracle that none of the crew were hit but we knew with two engines out we had to abort. We jettisoned the bombs and turned for home.
We were fortunate that we didn't run into any enemy fighters on the long trip home and despite the weather we made a safe landing.
Bit of bad luck on this one.