[imcarthur]

"The next morning we departed for Malta about 1,000 miles away. We were leading a vic of three. All went well until we reached a position south of Pantalleria where we were intercepted by six Italian CR. 42s. We went down to sea level and turned south, to lead them farther away from their presumed base. They formed a counterclockwise endless circle behind us and raked our formation with their .5 inch syncronized guns. We could not use our front turrets or even the beam guns in this situation. From the astro hatch I had the best view of all, and I remember the ridiculous thought that "Gee. this is just like Hell's Angels." Biplane fighters and the sparkle of syncronized guns firing through the props. All that was missing was the late Jean Harlow.

Vic Walklyn, our rear gunner, got one, and he turned north emitting heavy smoke. The others continued their attack and a lucky shot knocked out the starboard engine of Sgt. Barlow's Wellington, which was in tight formation on our port side. The prop assembly came off, and Barlow had to ditch almost immediately. We were coming into scattered low cloud at this point, but we were able to circle and see that all six crewmen had got into their dinghy. The remaining Italians broke off at this point, too; probably low on fuel with a long way to go home."

Notes from my father. Nov 13, 1941 They were flying Wellington 1C bombers from Gibraltar to Malta.

Ian