Delivered to Dallas 27th April 1944.  Assigned to the 544th Bomb Squadron of the 384th Bomb Group on 15th July 1944, at RAF Grafton Underwood.

42-98200 Fightin’ Hebe was named after the 544th Bomb Squadron’s Ordnance Officer, 2 Lt. Nathan Herschel "Mike" Mazer, with the name recognising his fighting spirit.

 Fightin’ Hebe was assigned to 63 missions during its time with the 384th, earning combat credit for 54 of them. 

42-98000 flew its final mission on 8 January 1945 while on a mission targeting the railroad in Kyllburg, Germany. This mission was the 384th Bomb Group’s 253rd combat mission and the Eighth Air Force’s 787th mission. 

The aircraft was flying lead in the lead squadron’s second element. At 10.22, while at 28,000 feet, Fightin’ Hebe experienced some mechanical problems causing the aircraft to lose speed and fall out of formation. Due to dense contrails and heavy cloud cover, the surrounding crews lost sight of the aircraft after it fell out of formation. It was later determined that flak bursts damaged one of the engines, causing an oil leak. The pilot, 1Lt. John DeFrancesco, subsequently ordered the crew to bail out, the time was 10.30.  

1lt. John DeFrancesco, along with Engineer / Top Turret gunner S/Sgt. John A. Williams and Ball Turret Gunner S/Sgt. Charles J. Doleshall, were all flying their 35th and supposed final mission on this day.

Of the crew of nine aboard on this mission, eight were to become Prisoners of War. M/Sgt. Hastings, on his 34th mission, remains missing in action to this day, and he is memorialised on the Tablets of the Missing at Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, in Belgium. 

Aboard Fightin’ Hebe that day were:

Pilot                     1 Lt. John Joseph DeFrancesco        POW, 35 missions

Co-Pilot                2 Lt. Robert Edwin Simmons            POW, 33 missions

Navigator             F/O Lynwood Erskin Spann              POW, 14 missions 

Togglier                S/Sgt. Homer Lee Lott                    POW, 19 missions 

Radio Operator    T/Sgt. Ira J. Bias Jr.                          POW, 29 missions

Eng/Top Turret     S/Sgt. John Allen Williams                POW, 35 missions

Ball Turret             S/Sgt. Charles Joseph Doleshal       POW, 35 missions

Tail Gunner           MSgt. Harmon Charles Hastings      MIA, 34 missions

Waist Gunner       S/Sgt. Gordon Wilbur Reed              POW, 28 missions

With kind thanks to the 384th Bomb Group website (384thbombgroup.com) for permission in using material from their records in the making of this story. It holds a wealth of information, documents and photographs of the Group’s activities during World War 2.

Research courtesy of Mikayla Leech on behalf of 384th Bombardment Group Museum.