· RUEL SK

The Way Back
113
storm of shells. As the ship cleared a rise and dropped on the other side, radio operator
S/Sgt. Robert C. Sheehan and engineer James Engleman assumed their crash positions on
the flight deck.
Navigator James Withey was standing just behind the pilots: "Just before landing we
lost one of our rudders so we landed slightly on the copilot side. This split the fuselage,
pinning my head between the top and the copilot seat. I was pried out with a gun barrel
used as a bar to lift the top enough so I could slide my head down and out."
Within minutes, a truck came and soldiers surrounded the plane. They made an
opening to free the five men trapped on the flight deck. The pilots, the radio operator, the
engineer, and Withey escaped unscathed and ran to the rear of the plane. The 20-nun shells
had rained through the thin skin of aluminum and exploded in the middle of the already
wounded airmen.
Lars Larsen, the left waist gunner, was dead and right waist gunner Maynard
Danner, was seriously wounded. The tail gunner, Harry Twigg, was wounded too, but less
seriously. Sadly, nose turret gunner Robert Long who, just a few minutes before, was
taking care of his friends, was in a terrible state. Those who were able to walk were taken
under guard to the Niedermandig Air Base.
Little Audrey had "belly landed" 2.5 km east of the railroad station of Polch.
The HEITZ crew
Bugs Bunny had lost half of its firepower and power plants. The three men in the
rear were wounded. In addition to severe damage to the right wing and left rudder, the gas
tanks were leaking. Their chance of returning to base was bleeding in the slipstream.
Under these conditions, losing altitude was inevitable. To reach and clear the front line,
pilot Raymond Heitz ordered the crew to throw overboard everything they could to lessen
weight.
'From his radio operator position, Fabian Mack noticed their ship was now covered
by two P-51s but saw no sign of the other B-24s. When they crossed the Rhine River, their
escort left them.
The UEBELHOER crew