Mission 178.Target of Opportunity.

B-24D serial 42-40990, assigned to the 328th Bomb Squadron, 93rd Bomb Group, was lost on 7 January 1944 during a combat mission to Ludwigshafen, Germany. The aircraft departed AAF Station 104 and was last seen over the Chartres area at approximately 1320 hours. Loss was attributed to enemy aircraft. No. 2 engine caught fire and the wing behind the engine was also burning. Controls were partially damaged and did not respond fully. The pilot ordered the crew to bail out at between 4,000 and 5,000 feet altitude. All crew members were observed bailing out with parachutes opening. The aircraft exploded before hitting the ground and exploded again on impact. It crashed into a forest near Chateau, approximately 17 km southeast of Foix, France. A German capture report dated 15 February 1944 confirmed the crash location. French witnesses reported that two bodies were found in the burned wreckage. Four crew members — the pilot, co-pilot, radio operator, and engineer/top turret gunner — evaded capture and returned to England together. Two officers, the navigator and bombardier, were assisted by French contacts and reached Paris but were captured by the Germans before reaching Spain. The fate of the remaining three crew members was not definitively established.