Evening star., 1943-01-18


directly across the target In mid
die Of it the big Lancaster leaped
upward like surprised animal-we
had released our two-ton bombs. We
tore on across the confiagation be-
low and none of us saw our bomb
burst but crews in the following
planes did.
Again We circled for position to
run across the target from another
direction and drop incendiaries. AS
we started this second run" heard
above the din of our motors three
dull thudS directly underneath US,
thudS like heavy weights were being
dropped on padded floors. Three
anti-aircraft shells had come un-
comfortably close, bursting in frag-
mentS, some of which scratched the
under parts of our plane but did not
do any appreciable damage or harm
any one.
Having completed the second
run the skipper said over the
interCom to the bomb -aimer:
Johnny, there's one fire down there
that seems to be dying down. Let s
start it up again"
Once again We took aim and
streaked across that steadily grow
ing blaze.
Bombs gone" announced Johnny
when we had got across
"Okay," said the skipper.
Exchanging places with the flight
engineer ! sat beside the pilot where
I could get really good view. Over
my earphones I heard him say,
Look at that one down on your
right. It's going good"
l told him the right wing of the
plane was in my way. Whereupon he
Tipped the machine far over on its
side, dipping the right wing out OF
my line of vision. He was right
The fire was going good and I
could not help but think of fires I
had seen in London during air raids
and picture what must be going on
below me.
Raid at Halfway Mark.
Unaccustomed to gauging bombs
from the air, I cannot estimate how
big an area was on fire while I was
there, but it looked plenty big. And
still more fires were to follow be-
cause the raid was only at its half
way mark when We left the scene.
For many miles as we sped away
from the Berlin district the skipper
kept the plane diving, leaping up
ward, and weaving in and out. This
Is what's called 'evasive tactics" de-
signed to prevent the ground SPOT
ters from making accurate observa-
tions OF the planes course and rem
dering it almost impossible for the
ground gunnerS to take sure aim
AS between that and comparatively
smooth sailing, I had rather be in
q canoe in mid-Atlantic during a
gale.
AS We left Berlin to the rear Clay
tons voice again came over the in
tercom as calmly as if he had found
another newspaper item of casual
interest. Set the course so and so,
he instructed.
"Okay," said the skipper.
Looking back l saw what resem-
bled blast furnace going in the
distance. Inquiring how far away
we were I was told 40 miles. On we
went. s--.,s,.. aaa ..
How far now?" I asked.
Sixty miles" said Clayton.
Tea Served by Engineer.
A moment or two later when
stiil could see the red glow far away
the skipper asked me to take my
former place in the nose OF the
plane and let the flight engineer re-
sumo his station.
Ill never forget those few short
laborious steps down into the nose
of the plane. We were several miles
in the air by this time and as soon
as I had disconnected my oxygen
pipe from the main line I began
to gasp for breath as if I had just
made hundred-yard sprint. Some
how I managed to get down to my
old seat, where the front gunner
quickly connected my mask with
the main oxygen feed line while I
plugged in my ear phones on the
intercom system. If I had only re-
membered instructions I had re-
ceived l would have carried a port
able oxygen bottle with me. For
several minutes I lay there gasping
and telling myself that Pete" DAN
iell wasn't so unlucky after all when
1t came to tossing coins.
Once over the sea again we de-
scended to comparatively low level
where oxygen was not necessary and
tea was served by the flight engi-
neer.
After narrowly escaping a collision
with another homebound bomber
we droned onward and soon landed
at the home base.
Only one bomber failed to return
to Britain. 1t was based on an air
orome some miles from ours. The
crews at this airfield had carried
out the orders of their wing COM
mander: They had "pranged" the
target and 'pranged it hard and
brought all kites home"