Shot down 20 December 1943 in B-24 42-7630. Prisoner of War.



Arnold Gray, a navigator with the 44th BG, was shipped from the USA in August 1943 as part of a replacement crew following the raid on Ploesti. Upon arrival in Scotland they were sent on to Benina in Libya - a nondescript air strip in the desert- to join the 44th. They had barely settled in when the Group was ordered back to Shipdham. Not so Gray's crew who - without their personal B-24 - had no means of transport so they were to spend the next week 'policing' the area, effectively picking up litter. They eventually found transport on 1st September and arrived at Shidham, via Marrakesh a week later only for the Group to be ordered back to North Africa. At least this time they had their personal B-24 and flying all night arrived at a base in Tunis on 17th September, only to be ordered back to home base again on 2nd October. But not Gray's crew whose aircraft proved unserviceable. Then the C-47 which picked them up seven days later developed a fault and had to make an emergency landing at a British base, where they were made most welcome but - once again - stranded. They eventually managed to hitch a truck ride to Algiers where there was a huge waiting list for transport. Not until 24th October did they get on a flght to Prestwick, arriving back at base on the 27th of the month. Unfortunately Gray was not in action for long, being shot down on a mission to Bremen 20th December that same year. He was taken prisoner and spent the last eighteen months of the war at Stalag Luft 1.