“Shoot Luke”

Piloted by Lieutenant John Murphy with Luther Cox as navigator, Shoot Luke turned back before reaching the target on the Group's first mission, to Lille on October 9, 1942, after carburetor trouble developed and Cox passed out from a failure in his oxygen supply.

On January 19, 1943, Shoot Luke was cut up by fighters and flak over Sousse: engineer Arvle Sirmans was hit in both ankles but climbed back into his top turret to keep fighting, and radio operator Bill Mercer was wounded in the thigh on his 19th birthday while radioing Malta's gunners to expect a friendly aircraft in distress. Murphy brought the riddled bomber, absorbing roughly 600 holes, down on Luqa's fighter-only runway — the first B-24 the Maltese had seen — where RAF men and civilians helped fight a fire on the wing to save it. It was patched up over two weeks before flying on to Gambut. The crew carried a Wog dog named Luke, adopted in Africa as the ship's mascot. Two months later, during the March 18, 1943 Vegesack raid, tail-gunner Paul Slankard was wounded aboard it.

B-24D serial 41-23729, assigned to the 328th Bomb Squadron, 93rd Bomb Group, failed to return from a diversion mission on 18 October 1943. The aircraft was last known at position 54°20'N 04°50'E at 1325 hours and was lost as a result of enemy aircraft action.

Engines installed were type R-1830-43, serials 42-38351, 42-39915, 42-39264, and 42-39808. Weather conditions at the time of loss were not available. No eyewitness descriptions of the crash or forced landing were attached to the report.

The report was prepared by 1st Lt. John L. T. Smith, Air Force, and dated 17 May 1944. It was forwarded through Eighth Air Force headquarters to the Commanding General, Army Air Forces, Washington, D.C., via ETOUSA.