[Sean Welch]

If this is the aircraft 2 miles south of Tarnak it is BOOMERANG BETSY, 42-64347 of the 455BG/743BS, based in San Giovanni, Italy. Was hit by flak before the target, the Ploesti, Dacia Romano oil refinery and made a lone bomb run. Flew on for 1 3/4 hours with the crew throwing out all kit to lighten the aircraft, but still lost height so all the crew bailed out. 9 of the crew were captured immediately and the pilot, who was the last to jump, was captured the next day. The pilot Markham was seen the next day on the train from Pleven to Sofia, he managed to speak to one of his crew and said that he was pretending to be a fighter pilot and not associated with their crew at all. He was taken from the train about an hour from Sofia in the custody of civilian police. It is thought that he attempted to escape and was shot in the process. The rest of the crew were taken to Camp Shuman from where they were released by the Russians in September 1944.