On Heavenly Daze's 25th mission — his first in command — Pettit ordered the crew to bail out after runaway propellers, then stayed to steady the ship. He was last out, and came down in a drainage ditch about a hundred yards from the sea. The full account of Heavenly Daze's last flight is on the aircraft page.
On 16 March 1944, 1st Lt. Richard J. Pettit piloted B-24 "Big Noise" (42-40969) of the 330th Bomb Squadron, 93rd Bomb Group, on a raid against Friedrichshafen, Germany. The aircraft was damaged by flak and Pettit made an emergency landing at Dübendorf airfield, Switzerland. He and his entire crew were interned for the remainder of the war. (MACR 3531)
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.
Articles, columns, and letters naming this airman in the 2nd Air Division Association journals and the group’s own newsletters. The summaries below are ours; the pieces themselves belong to the writers and publications that produced them.
Heavenly Daze's last sortie from Hardwick was also Lieutenant Pettit's first as aircraft commander. After runaway propellers he ordered the crew out; RAF Spitfires later shot the empty, still-loaded Liberator into the North Sea.
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.