AAR 22 March 2010

Reports came in that the allied advance on Wiltz Airfield was under attack by 109's, so 19 Squadron's first sortie was detailed to go and intercept enemy fighters over the area.
W/O Dezey and myself formed up as Red Section and headed off towards the fight.

Patrolling at 18,000 feet we intercepted a 109 just north of Wiltz at about 12k feet. successive bounces by the section caused the 109 to dive out in the direction of Bertrix. As we pursued the 109, we were engaged by a 110, W/O Dezey scoring some good hits on the engine of the 110 as he made a pass at me. Feeling braver now his buddy was around, the 109 came back into the fight, and the four of us fought for a few minutes, with both enemy aircraft taking hits. the 109 then came at me head on, and must have clipped my wing as his aircraft disintegrated behind me. Taking no damage, we pressed the (now smoking) 110 until he fled back to the safety of Bertrix airfield.

We RTB'd at wiltz for ammo and fuel then headed for Antwerp for a top secret operation.

19 Squadron were tasked with providing a diversionary attack on the factories at Dusseldorf, to draw the main body of fighters away from the Wiltz attack. Unfortunately night was setting in, and by the time we had organised the bombing run the Luftwaffe were tucked up in their beds.

We carried on with the flight regardless, taking 2 Havocs on the 'Validate' profile, managing to draw at least one enemy fighter away from the main attack. The hour long mission was fruitless however, as heavy cloud obscured the target, so we ditched our bombs and RTB'd.

Dezey took some damage on the trip home, losing his rear gunner and bomb door controls to the deadly accurate flak.

19 Squadron RAF back in business...