The mission on this date was to bomb Luftwaffe airfields near Aachen, Germany. The group had extreme difficulty with dense contrails, haze and fog during assembly and all the way to the target area. The low squadron became separated from the group in the haze and eventually bombed with another group. Bombing was by G-H equipment and results were unobserved because of cloud cover. One plane s/n 44-6088 developed an engine fire on the way into the target and the crew bailed out over Belgium.

Plane s/n 44-6088, named "Rattlesnake Daddy II," and piloted by Lt Fredrick C. Gauss, encountered engine problems as the group approached Belgium. Engines #1 and #3 stopped and were feathered and engine #4 was ablaze. The plane dove to try to extinguish the blaze without success. The crew bailed out at about 8000 feet and all survived except the pilot whose parachute did not open. All landed in friendly territory and were returned to Glatton. (See Arthur Fitch's story about this incident in "Black Puff Polly" by Roland Byers)

......... Crew

The crew was as follows:
     Plane s/n 44-6088     

Pilot		Lt Fredrick C. Gauss	KIA
Copilot		Lt Ralph Gray
Navigator		Lt Bart Rizzo
Bombardier		Lt Arthur Fitch
Aircraft Engineer		Sgt Jack Woodford
Radio Operator		Sgt Robert Pinkney - later killed in the crash of 44-8152 (Miss Ida)
Left Waist Gunner		Sgt Robert Glenn
Ball Turret Gunner		Sgt Walter McGuire
Tail Gunner		Sgt Edward B. Tooker