Sortie1BWB-24Bombed Primary
“Ball of Fire”.Over Lille.
Mission 14 · 09 October 1942 · Lille, France
Serial
41-23667
B-24D
Fuselage Code
RE
Squadron
329th
Ted's Traveling Circus
The crew.
§ No manifest catalogued
No crew manifest has been catalogued for this sortie yet. The men aboard are not unknown so much as unrecovered — a loading list or an interrogation form would name them.
The flight.
§ Ship’s Record
The Record
ResultBombed Primary
Record confidenceValidated against a source
Formation
Flew with329th Squadron
Fuel & Equipment
H2X scope photoNo
The target.
§ As Briefed
LilleIndustrial Area
LocationLille, France
As the log wrote itLille
Notes.
§ From the Record
Lt Joe Tate (pilot). B-24 'Ball Of Fire' (41-23667, 329th BS) hit by FW 190 cannon - tail, bomb bay, and pilot seat. Cockpit oxygen lines severed; Tate used emergency bottles. T/Sgt Aaron Moses (tail gunner) found bomb bay drenched with fuel, stopped leak bare-handed and froze his hand. Emergency landing at Northolt. Co-pilot passed O2 bottles throughout.