Navigator of the B-25 Liberator 41-29244 “Double Trouble” that took off from Gioia del Colle, Italy on a mission to bomb the German Messerschmitt aircraft factory by Regensburg. Shot down by anti-aircraft fire over Slovenia. Five crew members went down with the plane and five parachuted from the severely damaged aircraft. Cottrell was taken prisoner to Stalag 7a in Moosburg, Bavaria, where he remained until the end of the war.