Monfalcone, Italy. C. 1945-04. When RAF Liberator aircraft were bombing ship building yards at ...

Monfalcone, Italy. C. 1945-04. When RAF Liberator aircraft were bombing ship building yards at Monfalcone, north-east of Italy, in daylight, one crew had a miraculous escape when their aircraft was struck by two bombs from an aircraft above. The port inner propeller was cut clean off, a gaping hole was made in the fuselage and the top of the mid-upper turret was torn off. The bombs had not fallen far enough to become "live" and therefore did not explode on impact. The damaged Liberator dropped its own bombs on the target, then flew more than 300 miles back to base and landed safely. The mid-upper gunner Pilot Officer Walter G. Lewis of Orange, NSW saw the fuselage had been hit near the flight deck and was pushed down in front of his seat.