AAR Mission: 118
Date: 18/19 December 1944
Target: Oil, Harburg, Germany
Aircraft: Parramatta Patty (4th mission)
Pilot: Alan Baxter
Bomb run: Off; 0%
We had a very quiet flight out to the target — no sign of the enemy at all. We knew we were approaching Harburg by the glow lighting the clouds making it a poor night for bombing. The searchlights did not pick us up but the flak firing box patterns caught us with one close burst putting two superficial holes in the nose and the bomb bay. This was enough, with the weather, to disrupt our run and Roley Henderson was unable to claim any hits in the target area. No Wild Boar appeared to molest us either but as we left Harburg we were surprised by a Me110. It came up on us and we knew it was equipped with Schrage Musik as several heavy shells hit our port wing; thankfully they struck nothing critical but jammed the port flap. I threw Parramatta Patty into evasive moves but we knew we were up against an Ace as he came at us again putting a bullet in the fabric and another grazing the Bomb Aimer's left shoulder. Our boys missed continuously, thrown off by my movements and the Ace fighter's weaving; but he failed to hit on a third attempt and broke away. From there back to base we were all keyed up but saw no further action and our landing was safely done even with the one set of flaps inoperable.
Claims: nil; Bomber Damage: Port wing flap inoperable, Bomb aimer light wound, 4 superficial. Assessed points: 16 repairable by tomorrow