A. Warren Pearson Mission December 26, 1944

Dec 26, 1944      16th Sortie

Avizzo viaduct, Northern Italy

5 -1000 lb. R.D.X. bombs

7 Hr. flight

22,400 feet altitude

66 P-38 escort. Saw enemy aircraft low. Flak very heavy--intense two puffs came close. Got about 4 holes in ship--flew into valley. Guns probably on mountains. Got a bad hit in our gas tank. Had crew shut off power until tank emptied. sight gauges frozen,

Plane full of fumes. Had all doors and hatches open. First time I ever planned on bailing out. Bobrow wanted to toss junk out to make ship lighter. Tank emptied engine cut out so we ran engine off of different tank. Bomb doors also froze up. Didn't blow by the grace of God. Made safe landing at home field. Broke formation up over Adriatic, yet came in a few minutes later. Gas washed bomb bay completely. We got all kinds of advice from rest of our group-B.S.