On 13 September 1944 his aircraft was hit by flak on a mission to Merseberg, the damage took out two engines, and oil was leaking from a third.



The crew jettisoned their equipment and dropped their bombs to stay airborne, but they were soon forced to find a place to crash in Belgium.



The pilot and his and co-pilot were strapped in up front and the rest of the crew crouched down in the radio area at the back of the plane while they crash landed in Ciney, Belgium. A few members of the crew suffered minor injuries, unlike several of the fences they destroyed while going down.



Upon landing they discovered that the Germans had fortunately left the area five days earlier. The crew made their way to an Army hospital where their wounds were treated, then hitchhiked to Paris on a weapons carrier.