Things went pretty well until we were well over Germany. Fitzgerald spotted a Me-110 when we were still over the water, and Fairweather knocked down as it crossed in front of us.
But the next one got by Fitzgerald and killed Fairchild, our mid-upper gunner, on its first pass. The oil pressure in the #3 engine started dropping very slowly. It was hard to shake this one — he kept firing into Praxidice, but fortunately no one else was hurt.
We got caught good by searchlights over Berlin. The flak got our range and put a couple bursts uncomfortably close, but we seemed to come out of it with nothing worse than a jostling. Then a single-engined fighter followed the beam and hammered away at us. We were hit in both wings and started losing petrol. Fairweather, who'd been trying to line us up on the TI's while flak and shells rattled around his compartment, was hit bad. I toggled the bombs myself to get us out of there, and turned for home.
Chris English bandaged Fairweather up as best he could and got back to his wireless. The #3 engine seized up and quit over Berlin's outskirts. We didn't encounter any more opposition, and I set her down in the middle of the North Sea as the tanks ran dry. She floated for a good long time, which was good because we discovered our raft had been cut to pieces. Epstien had a good fix on our position, and English had passed it on to Air-Sea Rescue, but it was a while before we were picked up, being so far out. Too long for Fairweather, who could not survive the wait.
Pilot Officer Leo Feldman
Pilot, Praxidice
January 3, 1944