Delivered Cheyenne 8/5/43; Smoky Hill 25/4/43; Kearney 27/5/43; Dow Fd 7/6/43; Assigned 349BS/100BG [XR-N] Thorpe Abbotts 10/6/43. Was flying on a practice flight 24 September 1943 to test PFF equipment and technique. Intercepted and shot down by enemy night raider who KO’d #3 engine. Ditched North Sea. Five men rescued by Royal Navy torpedo boats : Pilot John G. Gossage, Bombardier Theodore J. Don, Flight engineer/top turret gunner William S. Humphrey, Radio Operator Michael W. Gillen, Tail gunner Bruce E. Alshouse (5 Returned to Duty). Five men died : Co-pilot William S. Grier, Navigator Ward J. Dalton Jr, Ball turret gunner Francis J. DeCooman, Left Waist gunner Clyde O. Lovell, Right Waist gunner Ralph Schulte (5 Killed in Action). Missing Air Crew Report 778. DAMIFINO II.