314 Squadron
Mission: 146
9/10 April, 1945
Target: Kiel, U-Boats
Lancaster: The Lucky Bunyip (3rd mission)
It was unfortunate that we lost our mid upper gunner John Preston on this mission because the rest of us were lucky enough to return — even though The Lucky Bunyip has been classified Cat-E.
The flight across the North Sea up to the target went without incident but an Me110 attacked as we approached the target; he was spotted though, but Alec missed him as did the fighter pilot. Two other passes saw him hit us, but all superficial, before he disappeared.
Then the searchlights found us and next thing I heard an explosion in the waist. A shell had exploded in-board but luckily it must have had a defective load as it blew a large hole in the upper fuselage without bringing us down in spite of killing John Preston with serious hip damage. We had other hits on the oxygen, starboard ammo box, starboard ammo track, suit heaters and control cables, as well as the bomb bay which luckily was superficial; there were at least four other superficial holes. The jolt threw us about but I quickly regained control and we were able to continue the bomb run only to get the attention of an Fw190 which was seriously damaged on its unsuccessful first pass. We were shaken up though and our new bomb aimer Richard Edwards was off and we cannot claim any bombs on target.
It was going to be a long flight back at slow speed and I wasn't going to be able to do any evading. As we reached the edge of the target zone another Me110 surprised us and knocked out the nose guns; another pass saw him knock out the port flap and hit the wing root, but on his third run in Alec Trackson in the tail caught him and brought him down in flames. I sent Richard the bomb aimer to the waist to help the Flight Engineer effect what repairs they could and man the mid upper. Another Me110 caught us as we began our crossing of the North Sea and he lightly wounded Flight and jammed the bomb bay doors; luckily he missed our sitting duck on other passes.
After that we were past the danger zone and it was just a gruelling flight back to base where I managed a safe landing. The Lucky Bunyip won't be repaired as there was structural damage from the blast so we'll be in a new bomber next mission.
Respectfully submitted
Pilot Officer Peter McKinnon