Originally Posted by
Cat Techie
Just read the description of the mission in John's book. I had heard of it from the SEngO of 31 at the time and from one of the pilots from the second part of the package. At the time we started repairing ZD843, we were told it was damage from a SAM. Later on, we got to hear it was caused by air burst fuzed weapons arming directly on release. After we had finished the repairs and "DH" was back on the ramp as an active asset, an Armament Engineering Officer came in with a drawing and asked if 40 "Z" shaped brackets could be knocked up for an emergency mod for certain weapons. Made a batch up that early morning. The part of bomb casing that caused that damage, I picked out of the cockpit. After chopping through the gun bay door, the gun barrel support mounting foot (that did take most of the kinetic energy out of the fragment) and the cockpit floor, a small cable support bracket, that was cracked took the last brunt of the fragments velocity. Aircraft was released as CAT 3 (Fly) with multiple ADF's for repairs and one Lim for the LH Gun not to be used. Did several more missions before a failure of the canopy hinge structure (not war related) saw her being swapped out. Was on the ground at Bruggen for a long time afterwards with the resultant peace time repairs. ZD843 did take part in other operations until being RTPed in the mid 2010s, the circular patch on left side of the fin being the only indication of the damage caused to her that night that remained.
yep, escorted that back to Dharhan from the target that night, after seeing Budgie and Bob Ankerson go down.