Target: some aircraft factory
in Berlin. After crossingthe North Sea and making landfall somewhere ever Scandinavia, four 109s pounced. Within 5 seconds, 3 were going down, and the last one seemed to be running.
Things took a turn for the worse when we came close to our target. More fighters attacked. Our escorts were nowhere to be seen. One of the enemy 109s apparently crashed into one of our bombers, and two more collided during evasive manuevers. Our navigator got so lost we had to double back over Berlin and back again before we could make a run. We get to target, drop, and cause considerable damage to it.
Coming out wasn't pretty. Flak, flak was everywhere. Bad intelligence and/or bad guesswork on the position and/or range of the flak guns. Lost another bomber coming out of Leipzig. Our crew keeps taking on injuries, and I'm surprised none of them died from the flak.
Just heading into Cologne, taking more flak, our plane starts losing altitude. At around 7500ft(from 15000ft), I order everyone to bail.
B17 Flying Fortress. Debrief: Medium damage to target, probably due to reduced bomb load because of casualties, nearly all bombs landed in target area. 9 enemy fighters confirmed down. 5 bombers lost. 4 crashed, all crew on each KIA. Mine, all crew captured by the enemy. Considering we dropped a crapload of bombs on Hitler's porch, I don't think they'll really survive long as German POWs.