Our 13th Op.

In 1943 when we got shot down we were on our 13th op. It was the longest trip the RAF had attempted at that time. It was all the way to Czechoslovakia to the Skoda Works and we didn’t get there and 110 other guys didn’t get there. But they... some did get there and get back. That was one of the biggest losses up to that time. It was a long way to go. All the way across Germany and into Czechoslovakia. We didn’t get into Czechoslovakia. We didn’t get that far. We got knocked down by a Messerschmitt. It came up underneath. We were flying straight and level at that time. Normally on the shorter trips we’d go a little bit this way so the gunners could have a view below, but this way he couldn’t see anything down below at all. And he came up from underneath, he really... he knew this too... the German pilot knew. He came up from underneath. First thing we knew he was there was he knocked out our starboard engines and set the thing on fire. The first thing I saw was... his bullets going off. He was so close I could hear em, you know, I could hear the guns. But then his big error was coming up to look at his job that he’d done. He had himself a Halifax. He came into sight and bingo he was gone. I’m sure he got out, but his aircraft was gone.