[RodM]

Hi Lanc and Erich,

thanks Lanc for your interesting account. Without having cited any ORB entry, a RAF Bomber Command K-Report exists for this event (the K-Report was a special debrief/interrogation of surviving crew members made shortly after the loss of the aircraft). Without quoting verbatim (it's a long-winded report), following is a summary of events from the report. You will notice that the report reads a little differently that the pilot's account:


"Homeward, in an area approximately 10 mi NW of Wesel, several searchlights were noted to be track indicating, 1 well to S/B and 3 close on the port side. Immediately afterwards, at approx 5146N 0627E, 2005 hrs, 16000 ft, several fighter flares were dropped in the vicinity of the aircraft, one of which ignited so close to the rear turret that the R/G was momentarily blinded. The R/G gave a "cockscrew starboard" and just after this had commenced, within a matter of seconds, the R/G saw an u/i a/c approaching from the S/B quarter, approx 30 deg below. The u/i N/F immediately opened fire with, the R/G believed, 2 forward firing 20mm guns at a range of 150 yrds. R/G replied with a continuous 5 sec burst that lasted until the guns could no longer bear, at 25 yrds range. Both S/B M/Gs had stoppages after only a few rounds but the port guns functioned satisfactorily. After the N/F passed out of range of the rear turret, it was seen by the pilot to pass in a sharp bank very close under the Lanc's S/B wing. The N/F, positively identified by the pilot as a 'Ju188', was enveloped in flames and it was last seen diving steeply in flames. However, the N/Fs burst of fire had hit the S/B wing and engines of the Lanc, resulting immediately in both engines and wing becoming enveloped in flames. Another cannon shell smashed the astrodome, wounding the W/Op. The pilot continued a dive that had started as a c/s in the hope of being able to extinguish the fire. The pilot warned the crew to prepare to abandon the a/c. After losing 6000 ft, as the fire was spreading to the fuselage, the pilot decided to get the crew to abandon the aircraft so he levelled out. However, finding that he still had control, he decided to press on a bit to regain Allied lines and advised the crew to wait for definite instructions to bail out. Just after the front lines were crossed, as confirmed by the Nav, the fire started to take hold of the fuselage so the pilot ordered the crew to bail out, commencing a wide orbit to S/B. Just after the other 6 crew members had left the Lanc, the S/B wing outboard of the S/O engine broke away completely and the pilot somehow managed to get out the the diving Lanc. All the crew saw the aircraft crash 8 mi SSE of Einhoven, about 50 mi from where the N/F attack was made. 6 members of the crew landed safely but the Nav was killed, cause unknown, after baling out. The pilot was later informed by HQ No 83 Group (2nd TAF) that the combat was witnessed from the ground and that the enemy night fighter was also seen to crash in flames."

The RAAF Casualty file for the navigator doesn't have much to add other than giving the time of the attack as 19.43 hrs (quoted as 20.05 hrs in K-Report).

As can be seen, the report is specific about the method of attack - from behind and below rather than directly underneath. It may be that the night fighter was moving in to attack from underneath but it was spotted and evasive action taken before it could do so. It is only when the night fighter broke away, presumably with excess overtaking speed that it passed under the Lanc. The details of some of the damage is consistent with an attack from behind rather than below.

Cheers

Rod