1st Lt Norman Schroeder, co-pilot 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. The top turret gunner would not jump, and Schroeder dragged him out of the door. Grabbing a pack of cigarettes, he jumped safely but passed out from his oxygen tube chocking him. Coming to, he saw he was drifting towards high tension wires, so he spilled his chute. However, it got stuck in an apple tree, 40 feet from the wires. He left all his gear there. From there, he walked past the line of demarcation, although the French did not trust me nor could communicate with him. He navigated by maps on the calendar almanacs tacked up in barns. He stumbled into German mess halls and found himself in the midst of tank maneuvers, but stayed free until the Resistance picked him up on the other side of the line. He escaped back to the UK through the Bourgogne/Pyrenees/Gibraltar route, arriving back on January 17th 1944. Schroeder’s full E&E report can be read at http://media.nara.gov/nw/305270/EE-329.pdf.