| While
stationed with 218 Sqdn at Marham in Norfolk, Mervyn had a narrow escape
from a savage attack on his Wellington Ic bomber by a Messerschmitt 110,
over the Dutch coast, after a raid to Hamburg
on 13 March 1941.
Both he and the rear gunner, Sgt Hutchison, were injured by schrapnel. The force of the fire from the fighter pushed the tail up and with the hydraulics shot out, the aircraft went into a 9000 foot (~2700m) dive, before it was brought under control. Sgt-Pilot M J Fraser nursed the bomber across the North Sea at 80 mph and at only 1000 feet (~300m), while the Messerschmitt circled for an hour and a half, trying to finish them off. The fighter was finally lost in haze near the English coast, and Sgt-Pilot Fraser managed to crash land at Marham. They counted 200 bullet holes in the aircraft and found the fabric was completely torn off the starboard side. Mervyn said afterwards "it was a miracle we got back at all." Completed his first tour while with 218 Sqdn.
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