The Battle of Britain Five Months That Changed History, May—October 1940 by James Holland (z-lib.org).epub

Larry and his crew were airborne at 8.55 p.m. and around two and a half
hours later were sneaking over the German coastline taking care to avoid
the flak defences at the coastal ports of Wilhelmshaven and Bremerhaven.
Following the silvery River Weser, they flew on towards Bremen, until over
the aircraft’s intercom Larry heard the men at the front of the Whitley report
sightings of fires and heavy flak.
Their CO, Wing Commander Bill Staton, had told them at the mission
briefing that they should attack from low level, dropping their bombs from
between 2,000 and 6,000 feet. By the time Larry’s crew arrived at the scene,
the fires enabled Sergeant ‘Nipper’ Knapper, their observer, to pick out the
aiming point and then begin their run-in, gliding in from about 4,000 feet.
This was the worst moment for the crew. Flying straight and level in order
to give the bomb aimer a steady bombing platform, they had to simply sit
tight and hope for the best as they flew through an intense wall of flak.
Bursts of anti-aircraft fire erupted all around them, knocking and shaking
the Whitley. Tracer fire was also arcing up towards them. Larry, in the rear
turret, found himself ducking involuntarily. Then suddenly a close shell
burst would really buck the aircraft. Larry could feel himself tense with
adrenalin. Finally, Nipper called out ‘Bombs away!’ and Bick, the pilot,
took immediate evasive action and tried to get them away from the flak and
weaving searchlights.
Setting a course for home, they safely managed to escape the fray
although they soon realized the plane had been damaged. It was flying
sluggishly and after a brief inspection they discovered that most of the
fabric on the port wing had been shredded. As they flew on out over the
North Sea, Larry clambered out of his turret to see the damage for himself.
‘What I saw,’ wrote Larry, ‘wasn’t reassuring, but the old Whitley did us
proud and kept flying across the North Sea without losing height.’ It was
with great relief that they reached the English coast and even greater relief
that they touched back down at Dishforth, nearly seven hours after they had
left. As well as the wing damage, there were holes all along the fuselage
and Larry found his bravado waning once he saw how close some of them
were to his gun turret.
All fourteen planes from the squadron made it back that night although
not a single Whitley had returned unscathed. The mood amongst the crews
was buoyant; all believed they had dropped their bombs on target. They had