Delivered Cheyenne 29 September 1943; Harvard 16 October 1943; Assigned 710BS/447BG Rattlesden 25November 1943. B-17 # 42-31191 was hit by German fighters on the 27 March 1944 mission to the Bordeaux-Mérignac airfield. Crash-landed on the beach at Le Porge-Océan, near Laruau (Gironde), France. Bombardier Lt Modesto A. Gonzales, Radio Operator S/Sgt Joseph H Koenig, Engineer/Top Turret Gunner Sgt Glenn C. Underwood, Right Waist Gunner Sgt Albert H. Ross and Left Waist Gunner S/Sgt Edwin S. Pankhurst, all five seen by Navigator Walsh and Ball Turret Gunner Volz to have been arrested on the beach. Pilot Lt Richard Gaskell and Co-Pilot Lt Raymond C. Koorenny were captured later. Navigator 2nd Lt Raymond L. Walsh, Ball Turret Gunner Sgt Wilbur E. Volz and Tail Gunner S/Sgt Thomas A. Smith managed to evade. Missing Air Crew Report – MACR 3546.