A nightfighter found us deep over France, but the real problem was over the target. Searchlights managed to cone us through a gap in the clouds, and then all the flak in the city fired at us through the gap. Peck had just left the nose turret and was killed instantly. The #1 engine was knocked out, and the port wing set on fire. The flaming wing attracted a single-engined fighter which damaged the starboard wing before leaving us to our fate. He probably figured we were going down eventually, and didn't want to be around if the fire reached our bombs first.
Mann must have dropped our load from the cockpit. Right after I plotted our turn for home, the burning wing came off and Pug-Nosed Dream began tumbling. The centrifugal forces were terrific. As Peck was dead, Jerry Lott removed the hatch and went out first, and I followed him. I don't know what happened to the men behind me. Actually, I don't know what happened to Jerry, either. I was picked up by the Resistance, who got me back remarkably soon.
W/O Alfred Neal
Navigator, Pug-Nosed Dream
July 16, 1944