On July 1st, 1944, we took off from our base at Tholthorpe to attack a “Pilotless Plane” (V-1) construction site. We thought that this would be an easy raid. This was not to be. The trip went routinely until we approached the target. We encountered more flak than we expected. We lost our outer port engine. We dropped out bombs and headed for home. When we got back to base and in the circuit at about a thousand feet, we lost the inner port engine. When we tried to turn left, the aircraft started to roll over. We were losing altitude quickly. By the time I got the aircraft to some semblance of stability, we were below seven hundred feet which was too low to bail out. Our only option was to ride her down. The Navigator was convinced that there was no way that we were going to survive. I told the crew to take crash positions. We landed in a farmer’s field on top of seven cows. The aircraft had broken in two at the main spar. The Navigator and the Bomb Aimer “came to” about the same time escaped through the broken fuselage. The Navigator’s head was bleeding from being pushed into a corner of the radio when we hit. The nose of the plane had been pushed in as far as the cockpit The wings were at ground level and the engines were half buried. At the last moment the Flight Engineer had looked out from the protection of his station and was thrown clear but had a broken leg. The rest of the crew helped him to a ditch about a hundred feet away. I was still siting in the cockpit, dazed and with two black eyes. My safety harness had not held. The Bomb Aimer and the Navigator got me out.
No sooner were we clear of the aircraft when all hell broke loose. Machine gun bullets and very cartridges were flying everywhere. Finally the petrol tanks blew up. The ambulance crews finally arrrived and took us to Linton-on-Ouse which was closer thant our own base. Later, we all agreed that it was a miracle that no one was killed.

Most Memorable Operation