Mission 75: Caen
6/7 Jun, 1944
Sir, the best we can determine at this time is that the plane was hit — probably flak, a fire in the outside starboard fuel tank which they couldn't extinguish. Anyway, they baled out over the Channel and of the crew the only survivors were the pilot, bomb aimer and mid-upper gunner. I believe they said the wing was hit by flak as they made the bomb run and think they were off target … We can only hope that some of the others may have been picked up by German patrol boats or French fishermen. I'll keep you informed. Oh, yes, one other thing, they told Rescue that they had destroyed one Me-110 before reaching the target.
Victories:
Destroyed: Me-110: Sgt. Les Wheatfield mid-upper gunner
Casualties:
Flight engineer: Sgt. Felix Helms — MIA
Navigator: P/O Ralph Langley — MIA
W/O operator: Sgt. Giuseppe "Gus" Moretti — MIA
Tail gunner: Sgt. Archie Bellows — MIA