Six inches of snow fell the morning of this flight to Maximiliansau, Germany. The runways had to be plowed (mostly shoveled) before takeoff could occur. The Allied troops had reversed the German advance in the Ardennes and it was now time for the 8th to assist in bombing supply routes to the German army. The 457th was assigned the bombing of a bridge on the main route from Metz to Munich. The group put up 36 planes. The bomb run was perfect and the bridge received direct hits in clear weather. Flak was moderate but accurate. Seventeen planes suffered damage and one plane s/n 43-38795 exploded in mid air over the target. There were reports that possibly another plane had dropped it's bombs on the exploding plane but it is more likely that it received a direct flak burst in the bomb bay. Because of very bad weather in England the group landed at Woodbridge, an English base near the coast.

Plane s/n 43-38795, 751st Squadron, piloted by Lt Irwin C Popham, was hit directly by flak over the target at Maximiliansau and exploded after dropping it's bombs. The explosion was described by others as "One big ball of fire". Several who wittnessed this said they thought he still had bombs in the bombay when plane exploded and other thought perhaps bombs from another plane in the squadron had hit him. it seems the explosion was that severe. There were no survivors.