The ritual of synchronizing watches brought the session to an end.
The navigators usually had a specialized briefing afterwards. The aircrew then boarded the aircraft with all their gear. After take-off the formation headed for its rendezvous with the fighter escort. On most missions, the bomber formation managed to meet its fighter escorts over France with clockwork precision. As the bombers approached the ground defenses around the target area, the enemy fighters would veer away to give a clear field of fire to the anti-aircraft batteries. Amid the bursting flak, the formation wheeled around the initial point in the bomb run. Sometime the bombers would go through unnoticed but most times they found plenty of action from the enemy, as the whole sky was alive with searchlights and anti-aircraft fire or fighters.
After opening the bomb-bay doors, the bombardier made minor level corrections by adjusting the knobs on the bombsight. The bombs were released automatically at a preset interval, the formation then flew to a prearranged rally point, then turned for home. After the
mission was completed, intelligence officers interrogated each and every aircrew as a group in the debriefing room. Each man in turn reported the mission as he had seen it from his post. The headquarter staff would begin at once to study the results, looking for clues uncovered on this mission to help in planning the next one.
