Mission 129 Debriefing
Target: Dortmund
This was the second mission for the Black Lily; we were all anxious to make up for the poor performance of our last mission. We had wheels up on schedule, and the flight to the Ruhr Valley was uneventful until we approached the target area. An ME 110 jumped us disabling the port ammo track and hitting the starboard wing. As the 110 came at us for a second pass, Air Gunner (mid upper) Fuller put a well-placed burst into its port engine, which erupted into flames. The enemy broke off its attack and fell off to our starboard when it suddenly exploded. No chutes were spotted. The wing hit appeared superficial, so we carried on with our bomb run.
The searchlights found us and lit us up, but we faced no opposition as we hit the flak belt. The flak was very heavy. There must have been a guardian angel watching over us because we flew through it all but unscathed. Just as we thought we had cleared the area, a burst disabled our port elevator. We just finished our checks to confirm we were still in one piece, when an ME 109 came at us from our 12 o'clock. Luckily, Bomb Aimer Beckham was alert. His burst sawed off the enemy's port wing and the plane dropped to the earth like a rock. No chute was spotted.
Our bomb run was on target, and we blew the hell out of something, as the tail gunner saw many secondary explosions as we turned for home. No opposition was encountered as we left the target area or during the return flight. As we approached home, the weather caused us some bother, but it was not until we deployed our landing gear that we realized just how much trouble we were in. The hit we took from the 110 to the starboard wing had destroyed our landing gear. A difficult situation was now made almost desperate by the weather. I brought the plane in, as we were drilled to in flight school. That guardian angel must have still been with us because the landing was hard, but no one was injured. Our ground crew has assured us Lily will be ready for the next mission.
Frederick J. Weaver
February 4, 1945