The crew of Lancaster ED315, 'P for Peter', No. 460 Squadron RAAF, debrief at RAF Binbrook in Lincolnshire on the morning of 23 June 1943 after an operation on Germany. The ‘op', carried out by 557 bombers, had been to the town of Mülheim, and records indicate that this raid destroyed 64 percent of the town. The squadron Operations Record Book reveals little of what this crew said about their experience, except that the target had been identified visually and by the illumination of Pathfinder flares. Crews were naturally tired at this stage, although the 3 hour 44 minute round trip to Mülheim had been relatively short by the standards of operations to places like Berlin. Norman Corbett, No. 467 Squadron RAAF, recalls waiting to be debriefed, a time of release from the tension of the 'op': There was a lot of banter and camaraderie. Sheer banter between you. There was a lot of laughter. Crews used to tell you tall stories. Say 'we had to come down that low we hit a submarine'. Things like that. [Corbett, quoted in Mark Rowe, The luckiest men alive, p. 48; AWM P05155.019]
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