Joseph Burns was Engineer on board B-17 #42-39840 on the 1 December 1943 mission to Solingen and Leverkusen, Germany. Severely damaged by Flak and thinking the plane was lost, Burns and five other crew members bailed out and landed near Alken, Belgium. Unaware of this, Charles F. Hess gave the order to bail out. Hearing nothing from the men in the middle and back sections of the plane, it was discovered they weren't on board anymore. As Co-Pilot John W. Mitchell couldn't find his parachute, the three other men decided to stay on board the plane as long as possible. Throwing equipment, guns, etc. overboard, the lightened plane was safely flown back to England and landed at the RAF Manston air base. Joseph Burns was one of the five men who initially evaded and were captured. Only gunner Raymond Nield managed to successfully evade. See Joseph Burn's story of evasion and capture at http://www.evasioncomete.be/fburnsjl.html