Delivered Cheyenne 8 February 1943; 94th BG Pueblo 18 February 1943; Salina 25 February 1943; Laurel 18 March 1943; Smoky Hill 25 March 1943; Syracuse 10 April 1943; Dow Field 15 April 1943; Assigned 94th Bomb Group / 410th Bomb Squadron [GL-W] at Bassingbourn 20 April 1943, then went to Earls Colne 12 May 1943. On return from the 29 May 1943 mission to naval storage depots, Rennes, France, “Hell Below” was attacked by 7 German Fw190 fighters, then hit by the Light Flak battery of Montagne Saint-Joseph (Saint-Malo). It crashed 3km West of Saint-Méloir-des-Ondes, to the East of Saint-Malo, Ille et Villaine, France. Pilot Jack B. Workman; Co-pilot: William H. Downey; Bombardier: Oliver J. Carroll Jr; Flight Engineer/Top Turret gunner: Frank R. Koch; Radio Operator: Donald S. Webster; Ball turret gunner: Ernest G. Muir; Left Waist gunner: Edgar L. Stevenson; Right Waist gunner: Winston E. Lowe (8 Prisoner of War). The Navigator, William A. Petruzzi and the Tail Gunner, Theodore G. Ferentinos were killed. Missing Air Crew Report – MACR 15139. In the MACR, Pilot Workman states that his Fortress “plunged into the English Channel about 8 miles off Coast of Saint-Malo, France.” As 2 other 94th Bomb Group B-17s were shot down in the same area, he probably took Lt Lawrence D. Clark’s B-17 # 42-5858 for his own. The German KU report mentions the B-17’s Serial number (“Nr. 229 710”) linked to the Workman crew names and confirms the crash location as 3km West of the church of Saint-Méloir. Workman states that “All members bailed out over the French Coast at 16:15 at 15,000ft. All men landed in the English Channel except one. All men picked up by Germans except one (Lt W. A. Petruzzi). It is believed he drowned.” In fact, most of the men landed in the Ille et Rance canal, south of Saint-Malo, others on land in the vicinity. Lt Petruzzi’s body was found in the wreckage of the crashed Fortress. On 30 May 1943, the nine prisoners were in the Kommandantur at the Dinard air base, opposite Saint-Malo. Badly wounded, Tail Gunner Ferentinos was cared for in hospital in Saint-Malo, but died on 30 May from loss of blood.

Service

Events

Event	Location	Date
Failed to Return (FTR)	3km West of Saint-Méloir-des-Ondes, to the East of Saint-Malo, France	29 May 1943
On return from the mission, “Hell Below” was attacked by 7 German Fw190 fighters, then hit by the light Flak battery of Montagne Saint-Joseph (Saint-Malo). Crashed 3km West of Saint-Méloir-des-Ondes.