401st Bomb Group, Mission No. 26, 22 Feb 1944, Oschersleben, Germany. 32 aircraft were airborne by 0935. 29 operational aircraft had returned by 1755 while four aircraft were reported down at other airfields in the UK and two were missing.Major (later Colonel) W. T. Seawell led the Group on a mission that involved a coordinated attack by the 15th Air Force from its bases in Italy. As a result of heavy flak and fighter attacks, aircraft piloted by Lt. Loy M. Shanks (# 42-31930) and Lt. Vernon A. Arneson (# 42-38002) were shot down. Lt. Arneson's tail gunner, S/Sgt. R. G. Schmitt, was unable to bail out with the other crew members because his parachute was riddled by machine gun fire but survived without injuries when the B-17 landed itself in a field.