Steven K. Dixon 2022
103 Squadron (Halifax) Aircraft Name: Thunder Tank
Crew:
Position |
Name |
Rank |
Pilot |
Scooby Doo |
Plt/Off |
Nav/Bomb Aimer |
Liono |
|
Nose Gunner |
Cutler |
|
Engineer |
Scrappy Doo |
|
Wireless/Gunner |
Fred |
|
Mid-Upper |
Velma |
|
Rear Gunner |
Panthro |
|
Mission AAR
Woof, Woof, Woof lost during Mission 5, 1943. Mystery Machine lost during Mission 9, 1943
1943
Mission 10 - Flying in our brand new aircraft-Thunder Tank, it would almost seem this mission was a training flight. Take off was good, no flak or fighters encountered. Panthro our new bomb aimer did a cracking job of hitting the target (72%). I’m sure the ground crew are happy to only have to rearm and top up the fuel for the next trip! Pilot - Scrappy Doo 103 Sqdn.
Mission 11 - Everyone on the Thunder Tank was looking forward to getting another trip under their belts, especially after good results last time! Take off was uneventful and didn’t see a soul friend or foe. This was especially so after we hit 100% cloud cover just as we flew into enemy territory. Fred my wireless operator picked up a general recall for all aircraft! We circled back and landed with no mishaps. Better luck next time! Pilot Officer Scooby, Thunder Tank, 103 Sqdn.
Mission 12 - This mission got the crew interested as it is the first railway network target. We needed to get the bombs on target as it could hit our French allies. Scooby kept the Thunder Tank nice and steady and Liono managed 40% on target! The first squadrons did a good job lighting the target up with their bombs! Light flak and no run ins with the fighters. Back in time for tea and stickies!!
Mission 13 - Mission 13- lucky for some! This was a nice trip to the edge of France. We encountered no Flack or Fighters. We were on target with 50% of our bombs hitting the target!
A quick flight home which was uneventful. Let’s hope there’s more of these milk runs!
Mission 14 - Thunder Tank lived up to it’s name! Being at the back of the stream, Gerry had his eye in. Light flack over the Belgium coast, we lined up for the target. Even though it was totally obscured we aimed at the centre of the fires. Managed 40%. We were hit by flack from the target all the way to the coast! We were hit all along the fuselage from a fighter, the Devil had snuck up on us and hit us all over, the intercom and mid upper turret was knocked out. We managed to dive and evade the fighter after this attack.
We landed back at base after this short but eventful trip! Need a drink to settle oneself!
Mission 15 - We are glad for another uneventful trip! Light flack on the way to the target with no major damage. We managed to stay away from the night fighters! We aimed at the fires that had been started on the target factory. There’s even more pressure to hit the target as any misses will hit our Allies. We managed 40% on target which was pretty good considering the 50% cloud. The flight home was uneventful with another safe landing!
Mission 16 - All was going well for Thunder Tank and the crew until zone 9, when all of a sudden the whole aircraft was being raked from front to back. Numerous hits, mostly superficial. The mid upper’s heat suit was knocked out. Flight Sgt Snalf manning the tail guns was KIA - decapitated and the guns smashed. Pilot Officer Scooby did well to evade further attacks from the persistent fighter. The tail guns and Snalf were hit repeatedly. Velma Stuck to her MU turret despite the cold, calling out the enemy fighter. Scooby took the Thunder Tank down below 10,000ft. We’d come too far to turn back and we cracked onto the tgt. Liono the Bomb aimer got his best results so far smashing the factory with 91% hits on tgt!! After hitting the tgt, We could feel the turbulence of the bombs being dropped from above, but we were lucky not to be hit! Scooby took the thunder tank down onto the deck, his low flying skills kept the enemy at bay until we were near the French coast where we were dived upon by a Me110, there was an exchange of fire and the tail was hit again smashing poor Snalfs body to bits. The enemy was not seen again. We made it back to base with mixed emotions about the death of Flight Sgt Snalf and the great result from the bomb results! There are rumours that Pilot Officer Scooby will get the DFC, Bomb Aimer Liono will get the DSO, Mid Upper Velma will get the DSO, Tail Gnr Snalf will get a posthumous DSO. The ground crew have their work cut out repairing the tail/guns.
Mission 17 - It was an ominous start when we saw a collision between two aircraft shortly after takeoff. We were coned over Holland with light flack blasting around us, Pilot Officer Scooby did a tremendous job throwing the Thunder Tank around to get clear, shortly after that Sgt Panthro our new tail gunner spotted and shot down a Ju 88 C6, all crew bailed out. Plt Officer Cutler was sorting out a new bearing to get us back on course when Flt Sgt Scrappy Do our flight Engineer noticed that we were loosing fuel. Sgt Liono came back to transfer fuel but the pump was useless! We had enough fuel to get us over the North Sea past Holland. We bombed a field in Germany before turning back. Everyone was in agreement to stay with the aircraft and ditch and hope to get picked up. We were bounced by a second Nightfighter who missed us in their first attack, Sgt Panthro shot the Do217 J1 down, only seeing one parachute. Scooby managed to put the Thunder Tank down as smoothly as he could. Sgt Fred stayed at his radio transmitting a mayday SOS. Everyone else had moved into the middle of the aircraft for the landing. Sadly Flt Sgt Scrappy Doo was thrown into the air (legs spinning) and ruptured his intestines and pelvis on the bulkhead of the aircraft! Fred our wireless tore his calcaneal tendon, Cutler our Navs had a cut thigh and Panthro our tail gunner had a torn trapesius. After a good few hours an RAF launch picked us up and took us to port where we managed to have a few stiff ones thanks to our rescuers rum stash!
Sadly Scrappy Do went down with the Thunder Tank. We will await a new kite and engineer, but will be ready for the next OP.
1943 Missions:
Mission Number/Date |
Target |
Result |
10 |
Leverkusen |
On Target 72% |
11 |
Hagen |
DNB - Mission Recall |
12 |
Aulnoye, Fr. |
On Target 40% |
13 |
Bristillerie, Fr. |
On Target 50% |
14 |
Courtrai, Be. |
On Target 40% |
15 |
Meulan-les-Meureaux, Fr. |
On Target 40% |
16 |
Bergerac, Fr. |
On Target 91% |
17 |
Brunswick, Ge. |
DNB - Abort, Ditched |
18 |
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19 |
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20 |
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1943 Credited Kills
Mission No. |
ME 110 F-4 |
ME 110 G-4 |
JU 88 C-6 |
JU 88 G-7 |
DO 217 J-1 |
DO 217 N-2 |
HE 219 A-0 |
FW 190 A-5UZ |
ME 109 G-6U4N |
ME 262 B-1AU1 |
TA 154 A-0 |
DO 217 J-1
(Italy) |
10 |
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11 |
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12 |
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13 |
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14 |
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15 |
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16 |
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17 |
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1 |
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1 |
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18 |
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19 |
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20 |
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