This trip started pretty well but then went sadly wrong for us.
Shortly after crossing the Dutch coast Sgt Pounds in the rear turret called out that there was a 110 approaching slowly from the rear. One long machine gun burst later the enemy was despatched fully ablaze. I had to caution Sgt Pounds to curtail the victory celebrations as nobody else could hear a thing over the intercom.
Over the target a second nightfighter closed right in without us spotting him. The damage from his initial burst took out the port wing flap, the rear turret heating and killed our bomb aimer outright. Our w/op went forward to take over bomb aiming duties at which point we were hit by flak. The shell burst just off the starboard side and wrecked the starboard flap.
Nothing we could do at that stage would have improved our accuracy so we released our load and headed home.
In spite of flying at a lower than normal level, we got back without further incident.
Sgt Boatman was the most experienced man in our crew and was on his 12th mission. He will be sorely missed.
F/O Tony Lockwood (Pilot: Coventry's Revenge)