AAR Mission: 145/10
Date: 7th-8th April, 1945
Target: LEIPZIG
Aircraft: The Big Bad Boar
Pilot: P/Off Frederick Haswell
Bomb Aimer: F/Sgt Anthony Hancock Flight Engineer: P/Off David Miller Navigator: F/Sgt Arthur Simpson W/Telegraph Operator: Sgt Charlie Johnson Mid-Upper Gunner: Cpl Hamish Ferguson Tail-End Charlie: Cpl "Bill" Cowley
I should be grateful but something did not seem at all right about tonight's mission. Survivor's guilt? I don't know. Tonight was even quieter than our last mission. I am not complaining as we all got home in one piece but I am quite bewildered. Has our bombing been so successful that there are no aircraft or ammunition dumps left any more?
If there were any night fighters up there tonight, they did not make any serious effort to hunt us down on the way out. The first and only evidence we had that tonight that the Germans had any objection to us flying over their country and bombing facilities significant to their war effort was some half-hearted attempt to hit us from the flak batteries over the oil refinery that we bombed tonight.
We dropped our load over the target and about 20% of our bombs seemed to hit the target zone. Hancock was disappointed that not more were within 1,000m of the target but we assured him that one in five wasn't so bad. I turned the Boar around and headed for home.
Hancock moved into the front turret and joined Ferguson and Cowley straining hard to see into the night sky from their gun turrets. As we had not encountered anything on the way out, my gunners were adamant that the "night hunters" just had to be up there. Cowley had a theory. Once we had been lulled into a false sense of security, they would sneak up on us and rip us apart with their 20mm cannon. So, we had to be waiting for them. Over Germany, there was nothing. No enemy aircraft in any form. We flew over the coast near Kiel. There was still nothing. Then we were over the mid North Sea and safely inside our own airspace. However, they had struck us before this way, hitting our bases when we were coming home.
Nothing. We reached our base and it had not been hit. I landed the Boar safely and once I'd taxied to our place on the tarmac, seven stunned men got off. Looking over the Boar, there wasn't even a scratch on her. The crew were laughing — nervously I must add — but morale was good. If the crew had complaints, it was because they were bored about not having had anything to do on this mission. We were going to enjoy this feeling while we could. We had been incredibly lucky tonight. We could only hope and pray that our luck holds out.
Respectfully yours
Frederick Haswell (Pilot Officer)
Damage - None