The following was reported by the pilot, William P. Vandendries. Vandendries was one of those shot down when the group lost 14 planes over Hemminge, Germany on 18 July 1944. Flying with five of his own crew and four replacements, Vandendries recorded the following after being freed from a POW camp:

"On 18 July 1944 while on a mission to bomb an airfield at Hemminge, Germany, we were attacked by about 200 enemy fighters. The initial hit in our ship was in the nose section wounding the navigator (Wojciechowski), the second was also in the nose and this one wounded the bombardier (Roof). The fighters hit the ship in the left wing and set it afire. A shell burst in the radio room and set fire to the radio room and the bomb bay. Another shell burst in the cockpit set fire to the cockpit and shattered the entire instrument panel. When the interphone went out I rang the alarm bell and assisted the wounded top turret gunner (Hancock) out and then went to the nose section and threw the injured navigator out. I then bailed out myself.

"On the first attack by enemy fighters Lt.. Wojciechowski, navigator, was hit in the face and through the right arm and both legs. He was so seriously wounded that he lost sight of his right eye. When he was hit he was knocked away from his gun position but although in severe pain from his wounds he returned to his gun and continued to fire. He shot down one ME-109.

"Sgt. Hancock, engineer and top turret gunner, was injured by shell fire and severely burned by the fire in the cockpit but remained at his gun position in the turret and shot down three ME-109s."

Windstorm, Roof and Barlow had just arrived at the 483rd and were assigned to the veteran crew to gain experience. Windstorm was a first pilot and Barlow was from his crew.

Ross off went overseas with the Michael I Higgins crew. Higgins was also flying his first mission on this date and was MIA, flying with Russell ME Ward. Fuhrman's original crew affiliation is unknown.

Windstorm replaced Chessington, who had just become a first pilot, and Roof replaced Turtle, who had been wounded on his 32nd mission. Barlow was flying in place of Peterman. Chessington inherited the remaining members of the Windstorm's crew.

As mentioned above, Roof was also seriously wounded, losing his left leg above the knee. Fuhrman, Bell and Allard were KIA, as was Barlow, who shot down one enemy aircraft before being mortally wounded.

Vandendries, Wojciechowski and Barlow were all awarded the Silver Star for this mission.