Crossing the German coast brought us our first night-fighter. A Ju-88 curprised us from below and hammered our port wing. Evasive action finally got us away. Near Leipzig it was a Me-110 firing into our bomb bay, but again, evasive action was successful.
Searchlights coned us over the target, bringing us our share of flak. Only one burst was close enough to cause damage (in the tail), and then a Me-109 made a single head-on pass. Yanacek says he could hardly miss Dresden, but hitting the TIs was another thing entirely.
Turning for home, yet another Ju-88 surprised us from below, but somehow managed to miss us completely. Yanacek thinks he caught a piece of it as I took evasive action. After shaking that one off, another took its place, with much the same result.
Near Brunswick, a Me-110 came up under us unannounced, causing minor damage. As I took evasive action, we were hit again, in the starboard wing. Once we'd escaped this one, Schmidt notified me that we were losing fuel from the outboard tank, and that we'd probably run out somewhere over the North Sea. I didn't particularly fancy taking to the raft on the North Sea in February, so I told him to find an alternative. He said we could make it to the Allied lines in Belgium, so Velletti plotted a new course for us.
Soon Unger finally (!) spotted an enemy night-fighter before it fired on us. He missed the Me-110, but Ayres managed to get one good burst at it before we escaped.
Landing in a Belgian field was pretty rough. If we'd been in England, Moonlight Cocktail could have been fixed up, but as it was, we just had to leave her.
P/O Jonathan Uhl
Pilot, Moonlight Cocktail
February 15, 1945
51 Peckham Damage Points prior to landing