SSgt Herbert William Dulberg, radio operator of the B-17 42-29876 “Battlin’ Bobbie” (named after the pilot’s wife), took off from station 117 Kimbolton, Cambridgeshire, UK at 1030 on a bombing mission over Nantes. However, perhaps due to the high volume of radio chatter they had to use due to overcast conditions on their way to the target area, German fighters intercepted them at 1500. While not concentrating their fire on the “Battlin’ Bobbie”, the fighters did score some hits on their left wing, setting it on fire. Rockets took out No. 1 and 2 engines. The pilot decided to pull out of formation to the right and ordered the crew to bail out, struggling to keep the plane steady as the AFCE was out. Dulberg jumped at 18000 feet into a circle of a dozen Frenchmen who asked him if he was German. Upon learning he was an American his gear was hidden from him. He got civilian clothes and was hidden in a gully until the Resistance came and arranged his journey back. He escaped back to the UK through the Bourgogne/Pyrenees/Gibraltar route, arriving back on February 6th 1944. Dulberg’s full E&E report can be read at http://media.nara.gov/nw/305270/EE-390.pdf.