Nightmare over Cologne

13th November 1940: Leonard Cheshire describes the horrors of a bombing raid when his aircraft is hit by flak

The damaged port-side fuselage of Armstrong Whitworth Whitley Mark V, P5005 ‘DY-N’, of No. 102 Squadron RAF, after returning from a bombing raid to the Ruhr on the night of 12/13 November 1940. While trying to locate Cologne marshalling yards, the aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire, detonating a flare which, in turn, blew open a 15-foot section of t…