Sgt Merwyn A. Ranum, right waist gunner of the B-17 42-29887 “Mehitabel”, took off from station 110 in Polebrook, Northamptonshire, UK on a bombing mission over St Nazaire’s “Flak Alley”. The original crew had named the plane after the ‘30s alley cat created by Don Marquis. Once over the Channel and devoid of their P-47 escort, the bombers came under heavy fire from German fighters. “Mehitablel” took several hits that killed Hanan, Ranum, and Taminski. However, one of the surviving crew members recalls seeing Hanan, just before he bailed out, standing up with his exposed guts in one hand and a machine gun in the other, trying to take out some of the German fighters circling the bomber like so many wasps.