The first enemy action was when a FW190 caught us from our starboard side as we neared Hamburg. The starboard wing took a bit of a beating but any other damage was superficial. Cowley in the rear turret took it out when it made the mistake of coming in from the rear. The damage was enough to send the enemy spiralling out of control into the night sky over the River Elbe.
The flak exploded harmlessly around us as we went in for the bombing run. Briggs let the bombs go. Again, he didn't let us down and reckoned about half of our payload had hit the shipyards. We would develop the photograph later and see if he was right. He hadn't let us down yet, I doubted he would this time.
We headed for home and hoped that was the end of it. We were nearing the German coast when a Me-110 tried to creep up on us. Cowley saw him first. Another night fighter would not be going home tonight.
Over the North Sea, a Ju88 caught us by surprise, taking out the port rudder and damaging the starboard. Cowley cursed before firing off a sustained burst. Again, his luck was in. He had got his hat trick and also his fifth kill.
There were no further enemy entanglements and we reached home without further incident and landed safely. Although we had not escaped unscathed, we could say tonight that the Big Bad Boar had been more than a match for any of the boars, tame or wild, that the Luftwaffe could throw at us.
Frederick D. Haswell (Pilot Officer)
Damage - 60 Peckhams