Carl B. Yerian, Mission April 12, 1944

The next mission on April 12 was to Weiner Neustadt, Austria. Our group was leading a formation of 39 aircraft. On the way to the target we lost an engine and were unable to feather the prop. This created additional drag and we were not able to keep up. We kept dropping back and finally dropped our bombs with the last group in the formation. After the bombs were away the formation headed for home and we were left alone with enemy fighters all over us. There were 40-45 fighters attacking the formation and 9 or ten of them had us all alone. Four ME 109s were shot down but they had us set up for the kill and I could see the blazing gunfire as they were coming in head on. All at once the enemy planes broke off their attack and I saw the most beautiful sight that I had ever seen. A flight of our P-38s arrived and took on the fighters that were after us. This was the first mission where our fighters has sufficient range to go all the way to the target. We were flying one of the older D model B-24s and when we descended to a lower altitude we were able to feather the prop and then caught up with the formation with three engines operating.