Mission 115.

The aircraft was lost on August 1, 1943, during the low-level Ploesti mission (Operation Tidal Wave), departing Benghazi at 7:30 AM. The plane sustained catastrophic damage, with the left wing torn off and engines No. 1 and 2 knocked out, leaving it out of control. The plane crashed on a mountainside in Serbia at approximately 4:45 AM (likely local time after a long flight) and was burning fiercely upon impact. Only three enlisted gunners successfully bailed out; the mountain police informed S/Sgt. Murray after his capture that the rest of the crew had been killed. Murray examined the wreckage and confirmed the aircraft was destroyed on the mountainside. The plane did not explode on striking the ground, though it burned fiercely. All parachutes of the three survivors opened successfully; Murray's chute opened just above the treetops.

The aircraft took off from Benghazi at 07:31 on August 1, 1943, on a bombing mission. The plane went down over Bulgaria at approximately 5:00 PM. S/Sgt. Koen bailed out at approximately 2000 feet along with the two waist gunners and the tunnel gunner; their parachutes opened. The plane did not explode on impact but caught fire and burned. After reaching the ground, Koen observed two men who had been thrown from the plane without parachutes. Seven crew members were subsequently buried, believed to have gone down with the plane.