20 Nov 1944
Only one nightfighter identified on the outward route, once again a few bursts from the tail giuns were enough to warn him off in search of easier targets. Medium flak over target however we were lucky this time with Jerry's spotlights — unlike our previous two missions they were miles off. Hit by a large chunk of flak which tore a few holes in our port wing but FSgt Poole managed to get his bombs off in good fashion nonetheless. Lots of fires in the middle of the target which made things easily visible.
What we thought would be a quiet run home was rudely interrupted by a sustained bout of Hunnish aggression from an Me110 that had crept up behind us. His first burst smashed some of the ammo bins in the waist and put a few good sized holes in the control surfaces on the tail. Despite our gunners putting a fair amount of fire into the night sky he came around again and managed to knock out the tail guns, leaving Phil Tanner as a spotter. His last attack started an oxygen fire in the waist which Phil and Ted had the devil's own time putting out. With the O2 out I descended to 10,000 feet as we crossed the Belgian coast — fortunately the German AA gunners must have half asleep!
Good weather over the airfield made for a simple landing.
Respectfully,
F/O. Weathers
M-for-Matilda
20 Nov 44