“Jo-Jo's II Special Delivery / Here's to Ya”

Here's to Ya, piloted by Ralph J. McBride, was destroyed in the Ionian Sea ambush that Luftwaffe fighters sprang on withdrawing Ploesti bombers on August 1, 1943. Leutnant Flor's Messerschmitt caught the aircraft in a third wave of attacks; no parachutes were seen. The entire crew was lost, including co-pilot James S. Huston, navigator Coy B. Ellison, bombardier James L. Gill, and six enlisted gunners and radio and engineering crew. German fighters claimed credit for the kill, one of only three bombers actually destroyed by the Luftwaffe in that engagement, though five were claimed.