Shot down 30 December 1943 in B-24 42-7548 'Bull O' The Woods. ' Prisoner of War (POW).

Earlier 10/10/43 in B-24 42-40764 'Helen B'Happy', ac lost power after takeoff at Marrakech on return to UK. With all power lost, Irby made a wheels up landing. With a crew of 10 plus 3 passengers, only Lt. Saenger was lost when his parachute failed to open in time.



A navigator Rendall joined Lt Irby's crew at Shipdham shortly after the raids on the Ploesti oil fields. On 1st October 1943 following a raid on the Daimler-Benz factory at Weiner-Neustadt (during the period the 44th BG was seconded to North Africa) their severely damaged aircraft 'Helen B, Happy' made it back as far as Palermo and spent the next nine days making her airworthy. When they returned to base they discovered that the Group had returned to England. The very next day - plus remaining personnel - they took off for Shipham losing power on all four engines on the climb after take-off. The bombardier baled out and did not survive, the rest of the crew prepared for a crash landing. During the wheels-up landing the bottom of the plane was sheared off and several men in the bomb bay were badly injured. Later on December 30th on a mission to the I.G Farben factory at Ludwigshaven they were attacked at 20,000ft over the French coast by a swarm of ME 109's. The controls were badly damaged and the pilot signalled a bail out. Rendall landed in a ploughed field and was helped by the farmer and his son who hid him in a nearby wood. After dark they came back and took him to a farmhouse where he was fed and bedded for the night. Next day he was given clothing and food and helped to move on but was later caught and became a POW.