Hi All
I'm not looking for reasons for the crash yet, but just to quell the interest. Fighter attack is only mentioned in one official document and gets bandied around a lot, it was however only described as "believed attacked" - the AHB has a copy of 765c which makes no mention of fighter attack - I have some pics of the crash and no fuselage or wing bullet holes - which doesn't mean much but really there is not much evidence one way or the other. The Court of Inquiry papers were burned with thousands of others but I think someone somewhere has a copy as I suspect that is where the photos came from! I've learned to take care over any evidence in books etc as one famous author has the crew killed a month before they actually were and has an 8th man make a fatal jump from the aircraft as it crashed only to be killed again some months later on another mission.
Spurlash - Great stuff, I had not realised that the moon could be at 25% and be below the horizon at the same time so you can't see it anyway - slaps head. What was your source for that information?
Fox - that's a good link - I have read it myself but not picked up the distance part. However to test the theory of distance viewing I have bought a paraffin lamp and have desperately tried to find a three mile distance between two points in the countryside (to avoid artificial lights) with a clear view between the two! Surprisingly difficult, three miles is a really long way! Also discovered that when it's really dark in the countryside you can only get 4 metres from your car before you fall into a pothole!
However, the darkness was, I assume, no surprise to the RAF and they must have had some way of flying down safely time after time or they would have lost every night bomber that took off. It's this landing method I am trying to determine, in some detail admittedly.
Thanks for the replies so far chaps
James