401st Bomb Group, Mission No. 194, 10 Jan 1945, Euskirchen, Germany. Briefing took place at 0600 hours. Deenethorpe had been snowed in the previous day, but by working all night utility crews were able to clear the runway and perimeter track. At the briefing heavy emphais was placed on careful taxiing and wide intervals between aircraft. Notwithstanding the problems, all operational aircraft were off by 0958 hours. At 1220 hours a Lead Squadron aircraft returned early, with No 1 engine feathered, went off the runway momentarily but recovered. By by 1600 hours all but aicraft had returned safely. With snow and ice on the runway, it was difficult for pilots to keep their ships from sliding forward with brakes locked while applying maximum takeoff power. However, all of the Group's aircraft made it, clearing trees at the end of the runway by a matter of feet. The 401st, which put up three squadrons comprising the 94th Combat Wing "A" Group, was to have been led by Major Jere Maupin. However, when his ship was forced to abort, the lead was taken over by Lt. Louis Lawrence, flying Deputy Lead position of the Lead Squadron. Bombing was conducted by the Gee-H (radio beam) technique through heavy clouds. However, a break in the clouds permitted strikes to be seen at the northern edge of the target airfield and on the railroad and autobahn. Because of high winds, the High Squadron became separated from the 401st and bombed with another Group. No fighters were encountered, and flak was meager and inaccurate, resulting in minor battle damage to two aircraft. However, the ship piloted by Lt. R. B. Thompson lost two engines over the target and made a forced landing in Belgium. When he was unable to land on the runway of a small fighter strip occupied by a Polish RAF squadron, Lt. Thompson was forced to fly between two chimneys 120 feet apart, under an electric power line and over a house before crash landing in an open field. None of the crew was injured, but his airplane, "Hard Seventeen", was a total loss.