Supports 2 facts
E&E Report No. 47 - Sgt. Arthur B. Cox, Jr.
Military Record · July 1943 · Escape and Evasion Reports
Cited at p. 1
The Man Behind the Name
§ Biography
Lt. Nicholas H. Cox served as co-pilot aboard "Big Eagle," a B-24 in the 330th Bomb Squadron, 93rd Bomb Group, flown by Capt. Alexander Simpson. Crewman Michael L. Reardon's diary describes Cox flying as co-pilot for a rough group practice formation on October 6, 1942, just three days before the crew's first combat mission.
On October 9, 1942, the 93rd Bomb Group flew its first combat mission, targeting Lille, France. Near Dunkirk, Big Eagle was hit by enemy fighters and set ablaze; Reardon's diary recounts that the fire reached the flight deck and burned Cox's feet as he began to leave his seat, while the pilot salvoed the bombs and gave the order to bail out. Big Eagle went down, the group's first combat loss, and Cox was taken prisoner and held for the remainder of the war. Fellow crewman Arthur B. Cox Jr.'s memoir reproduces a photograph of Nicholas Cox and Simpson together among a group of captured American airmen at a German POW camp.
Service record.
§ As Catalogued
Rank
Lieutenant
Position
Co-Pilot
Serial Number
O-442744
Missions flown.
1 catalogued · 09 Oct 1942
The missions below are those we have been able to document for this airman, drawn from flight logs, mission records, and archival sources. It is not necessarily a complete account of every mission flown; gaps may reflect missing documentation, transferred assignments, or records lost to time.
№
Date
Target
Aircraft
№ 14
09 Oct 1942
Lille
I/A
“Big Eagle”
→
Photographs.
2 on file
Read the records.
2 documents
Original documents behind what this page says about this airman — reports, records, and histories the archive holds and is free to reproduce. Check the sources for yourself.
Supports 1 fact
Escape Through Enemy Territory
Book · Arthur B. Cox, Jr. · 1988