On 14 June 1944, the 34th Bomb Group flew a mission to bomb Cambrai-Epinoy airfield in France, in support of Allied ground troops in Normandy. “Mean Kid”, a brand new B-24 on its fifth mission, was severely damaged by enemy fire over Antwerp. Unable to make it home to Mendlesham in Suffolk and with only one landing wheel down, the pilot Lieutenant Sam Laskin crash landed the aircraft at Manston, Kent.
Laskin was badly wounded, but his crew remained unscathed and as a result Laskin received the Silver Star for valour. The aircraft suffered a broken wing and crumpled engine and had to be scrapped, too badly damaged from flak fire and a crash landing to fly again.