The mission was uneventful until about halfway down the bomb run when the ship sustained flak damage on the tail section. Pilots then complained that rudder control was stiff and later on from their conversation I gather that they had no rudder control. The bomb run was successfully completed and the rally wa under way when enemy fighters (FW 190’s and ME 109’s) attacked our squadron. Almost immediately #2 prop “ran away”and there was a series of short rings on the alarm bell. The navigator and I removed our flak suits and put on our chest pack parachutes. In doing so our inter phone connections were severed for several minutes. In the meantime #2 engine had been tethered and the ship wa flying along normally. However, we helped the P.N. out of the nose turret and helped him remove his flak suit and adjust his chute. Noticing that we had left the formation the navigator gave the pilot a heading to fly. It was then that we learned that the pilots had bailed out. The P.N. Lt Whitham, went up to the flight deck and I followed him. We discovered that the pilot, co-pilot, radio operator, and engineer had bailed out through the bomb bays which were still open. The ship was flying on C-1 auto-pilot and was making a slow circle to the left and at the time was heading back to Germany. Lt Whitham, using the turn-control knob began to turn the plane to a hiding of 270 and I went up to the nose to engage the secondary clutch on the bombsight so the auto-pilot would hold a steady heading. Returning to the flight deck I got into the co-pilot’s seat - Lt Whitham was in the pilot’s seat. By that time the ship had almost reached a hiding of 270. (The remote-reading compasses were out so the navigator used the sun as a guide and we used the gyro compass and the ball compass above the instrument panel). Only a few adjustments were necessary on the C-1. We were losing altitude at about 500 feet per minute and I corrected that. Once we encounter flak and I made some slow turns as evasive action. In the meantime, we contacted the gunners in the waist who had not heard the alarm bell and told them what the situation was; that we intended to fly into France nd bail out when certain that we were far from the battle lines. After flying about 30 to 35 minutes the navigator said we were deep enough into friendly territory to bail out. We instructed the gunners to bail out the bomb bays so we would be certain everyone got out of the ship safely. We bailed out in the order, Navigator Lt Ryan, L.W. Gnr Sgt Person, T.G Sgt Feeney, Pn. N. Lt Whitham, R.W. Gnr Sgt Salen, B. Lt Beyer. We landed several miles south of Valenciennes.

To the best of our knowledge the pilot, co-pilot, radio operator and engineer bailed out approximately 10 miles north of St Vita or in that vicinity.

P-51’s escorted us from shortly after we were hit until we bailed out. Lt Whitham tried to contact them but had no success.

When we had an opportunity to speak to the gunners on the ground they said that the waist filled with smoke after #2 engine was hit and that they thought the engine must have been on fire.