[Chris Goss]

The next few weeks were quiet for obvious reasons and the next incident did not occur until 24 December 1943. At 0630hrs in the morning, six He 177s took off in pairs on an armed reconnaissance of the Bay of Biscay which, due to the poor weather, was uneventful until 1330hrs when four Bristol Beaufighters were spotted.
At 0950hrs, four Beaufighters from 143 Sqn had taken off from Portreath in Cornwall on an interceptor patrol. Leading the patrol was Australian Sqn Ldr Bill Moore, a Battle of Britain veteran and who was waiting on his promotion to Wg Cdr. At 1250hrs, two He 177s were spotted and Bill Moore lead the attack, closing in to 200yds and opening fire. However, he had got too close to the defensive armament of the He 177 A-3 flown by Lt Richard Kranz of 4./KG 40 and to the horror of the other three RAF crews, there was a 'vivid flash in front which caused aircraft 'N' to disintegrate'; Bill Moore and his navigator Plt Off Phil Froment were killed instantly. The remaining Beaufighters flown by Flt Sgt David Howley, Flt Sgt Bob Gillchrist and American 1st/Lt Ray Dymek then attacked with the latter carrying out three attacks which set the starboard engine on fire after which the bomber glided down, hit the sea, disintegrated and burst into flames. There were no survivors.