We took off into the clear winter night, the stars shining cold and bright overhead. We were well over the Netherlands before encountering any enemy activity when an Me 110 Tame Boar caught us by surprise, firing both his main and rear guns, but failed to score. After the initial pass, I put Belligerent Bulldog through her paces. It must have worked as Jerry failed to hit. However, James, Sgt Edgecombe caught the bandit in his sights on the third pass and the sky was momentarily lit up by a bright fireball as the 110 exploded! After being caught with our pants down the boys became more vigilant. However, there were no more encounters en route.
To our surprise, the Luftwaffe didn't seem to be up and about tonight, Belligerent Bulldog meeting no resistance on target ingress. The searchlight beans failed to find us. Not so the Ack-Ack, a burst off our tail sending a nasty piece of shrapnel into Percy's, Sgt York, belly. The buffeting by the Ack-Ack was enough to throw Arthur's, WO Thomas, aim off and our eggs all fell short of the target.
The GAF put in an appearance to see us off, a Ju 88 coming in on our tail. Sgt Edgecombe spotted the bandit though with Percy out of action we were unable to offer an initial challenge other than swerving about the sky. It was not enough as the Tame Boar damaged the port rudder and elevator. Still, in the end Jerry got his just desserts, James igniting one of the engines and forcing the Ju 88's crew to bail out.
The trip home was quiet, other than Percy's moaning. Once we were clear of the target Ned, F/Sgt Jones, did what he could to make Percy comfortable before returning to monitor the engines and fuel.
With the sky still clear over Lincoln and the first rays of dawn lightening the sky Belligerent Bulldog set down. The medical boys say Percy will live, though he won't fly again. The repair crew say they'll have Belligerent Bulldog ready to fly again by tonight (29 Peckham Points).
F/O James Tewsbury, Commanding
Belligerent Bulldog