Reporter: So you took off after breakfast?

Anderson: That's right. Ham and eggs, and coffee.

R: Well then, according to routine you started from combat airfields in the south of England?

A: The Podington 92nd, the Chelveston 305th, the Thurleigh 306th, the Polebrook 351st, the Deenethorpe 401st and the Glatton 457th.

R: Instead of just listing the squadrons, can you tell me what it was like?

Anderson could not give a clear picture of the squadrons’ take-off. He stood behind one of the pilots, saw meadows and airport hangars go by and then was pressed against the back wall when the plane gathered speed. The teletype told him that the other squadrons took off at the same time. In each of the planes there are twelve to eighteen men, some of them just waiting, others carrying out specific technical jobs. The entire fleet meets over the coast where some of the squadrons go into a holding pattern.

R: Then a flight over the northern coast of France?

A: Of course. We acted as if we were flying towards Nürnberg or Schweinfurt.

R: Did you have a sense of pride when you looked over a bomber formation of 300 airplanes?

A: I couldn't see it. My Mosquito, a fast wooden bomber, flew a different route - over the Netherlands, Rhine, Weser, Northern Harz, etc.

R: Then German air surveillance had only to determine the direction of this pathfinder plane to see through the ruse of the bombers flying south easterly.

A: Sure. To the extent that they were still operative, they realised that.

R: South of Fulda a change in course?

A: Towards the north-east.

R: As planned?

A: Everything was planned.

R: The squadron commanders had no say in that?

A: The lead planes flew up front, but didn't determine the flight pattern.

R: What was the purpose of that?

A: I don't know. I can only describe the methods of attack. They were all pros. First of all they had to locate the city, to ‘see’ it. When we arrived in the Mosquitos, we saw the squadrons of bombers coming in from the south.